Economy. Customs duties: Trump announces talks with Beijing this Monday

Donald Trump announced Friday that new Sino-American trade talks would be held in London on Monday, in an attempt to reach an agreement between the two giants, who are engaged in a customs dispute. The US president specified on his Truth Social network that the American delegation would include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, adding: "This meeting should go very well."

This would be the second meeting between Americans and Chinese since Donald Trump's return to the White House, following a first in Geneva, Switzerland, in mid-May, which temporarily ended the trade war between the world's two leading economic powers. Scott Bessent and Jamieson Greer were already part of the American delegation that agreed, after two days of negotiations, to reduce customs duties on Chinese products from 145% to 30%, in exchange for a similar move by Beijing, from 125% to 10% on American products, for a period of 90 days .

The two capitals entered into a bidding war of customs duties following President Trump's announcement in early April of his so-called "reciprocal" customs duties, imposing at least 10% on all products entering the United States, regardless of their origin. Chinese products were subject to a 34% surcharge, which came on top of the 20% imposed as part of the fight against the trafficking of fentanyl, a powerful opioid causing a major health crisis in the United States, and the customs duties that predated Donald Trump's re-election. Beijing responded with equivalent customs duties, leading to an escalation with Washington, reaching 125% and 145% respectively on each country's products, leading to a sharp slowdown in trade between the two giants.

But Donald Trump again accused China on Wednesday of not respecting the terms of the de-escalation agreement, a bad move provoked, according to the Wall Street Journal , by the slowness with which Beijing granted new export licenses for rare earths and other elements needed for semiconductors and automobiles.

The American president was finally able to speak on the phone with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Thursday for the first time since the start of trade tensions, assuring that the conversation had concluded in a "very positive manner." For his part, Xi Jinping asked Donald Trump, during their exchange, to "straighten the trajectory of the great ship of Sino-American relations," according to comments reproduced by the official Xinhua news agency.