Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and two other Trump administration officials will meet with their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday for renewed trade talks, President Donald Trump said.
Bessent, who has been leading the administration’s efforts to craft a deal with Beijing, will be joined by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Trump said.
“The meeting should go very well,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Friday afternoon. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will hold the first round of trade and economic talks with the U.S. during a trip to the U.K. from Sunday to Friday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday. He represented Beijing during bilateral talks with Washington in Switzerland last month and is China’s lead trade negotiator.
CNBC has contacted the Chinese Embassy in Washington for more information on Trump’s announcement. A spokesperson for the embassy did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Trump had first revealed that further trade talks were planned after he held a lengthy phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
The scheduling announcement comes as the U.S. and China have squabbled over numerous issues in the midst of a debilitating trade war that threatens both economic superpowers.
The countries — whose total trade in goods topped $582 billion last year — temporarily lowered most of the tariffs on each other’s goods after breakthrough bilateral trade talks in Geneva, Switzerland, last month.
But since then, China has repeatedly accused the U.S. of undermining that progress.
Beijing protested after the U.S. Commerce Department warned the chip industry against using Chinese semiconductors. China also objected to the Trump administration’s recent announcement that it will revoke the visas of some Chinese students studying in the U.S.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, has accused Beijing of slow-walking a pledge made in Geneva to approve the export of additional critical minerals, known as rare earths, to the United States.
Trump wrote after Thursday’s call with Xi, “There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products.” He did not explain what that meant.
China’s Ministry of Commerce on Saturday emphasized that its restrictions on rare earths are in line with international practice, while indicating it would step up approvals of applications for export licenses.
— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.