Beijing, Washington point fingers after Geneva promises stall

China will send Vice Premier He Lifeng to London on Monday for another round of trade talks with the United States, following a direct phone call between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping.

The details of the meeting were revealed on Friday afternoon by Trump through a post on Truth Social, where he wrote, “The meeting should go very well. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

This will be the first face-to-face negotiation since the two sides temporarily relaxed tariffs after talks in Geneva last month. According to CNBC, the meeting will include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who will represent the U.S. delegation.

Trump announced these renewed discussions shortly after his Thursday phone call with Xi, a conversation that reportedly lasted long and covered unresolved trade tensions.

These talks are taking place while both countries remain stuck in a long-running economic fight. Although trade in goods between them reached $582 billion last year, diplomatic trust is still missing.

Beijing and Washington point fingers after Geneva promises stall

After last month’s agreement in Switzerland, China accused the U.S. of walking back from what had been decided. Specifically, Beijing objected when the U.S. Commerce Department told American companies to stay away from Chinese semiconductors.

In another move that added pressure, Trump’s administration announced it would start revoking visas for some Chinese students studying in the U.S. That move triggered more protests from Beijing, which said Washington was intentionally escalating tensions.

On the other side, Trump’s team claimed China failed to deliver on a promise made during the Geneva meetings—mainly the pledge to approve additional exports of rare earth minerals.

The U.S. wants those materials for high-tech industries, but shipments haven’t come. After Thursday’s call, Trump posted, “There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products,” though he didn’t explain what he meant by that.

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