U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping. All of their conversations contributed to defusing tensions between the two countries. This discussion comes after months of contingency exchanges between the two countries over breaches of the Geneva agreement on trade. Those talks are about soothing their contentious relationship and setting the stage for further cooperation down the road.
Pictured above, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick takes questions from the media at Lancaster House in London. Here’s what he noted as the recent advancements achieved in the negotiations. Lutnick indicated that a rollback of U.S. restrictions on advanced technology sales to China is contingent on China’s approval of rare earth exports. To that end, he said, if Xi Jinping is willing, “we will put that framework in place ourselves.”
In parallel, last week, Chinese state media was trying to get ahead of the damage done by the call between Trump and Xi. This call emphasizes the importance of their privatization negotiations. Following Lutnick’s comments, Vice Minister of Commerce Li Chenggang addressed the media. The new international trade representative and vice minister at the Commerce Ministry, Iman Darmawan, stressed Jakarta’s commitment to continue progressing with the agreement.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced he would return to the U.S. to testify before Congress, emphasizing the importance of these discussions. Lutnick then made a surprise announcement that he and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were returning to Washington, D.C. They hope to get President Trump’s blessing for the framework they’ve proposed.
The Chinese restrictions on rare earth exports to the U.S. are crucial to this deal. Lutnick referred to them as a “fundamental part” of the negotiations. He expressed optimism that these issues would be addressed within the framework’s implementation, stating that he believes the restrictions “will be resolved in this framework implementation.”
U.S.-China talks extended late into the afternoon on Tuesday, according to reports from Chinese state media. This simply underscores the critical need for agreement on all fronts. This is a result of an earlier meeting that occurred in Switzerland in mid-May. At that meeting, the officials from both countries agreed to suspend the reciprocal tariffs levied in mid-April for 90 days and promised to withdraw further measures.