U.S. and China Agree to Stick to Prior Trade Truce After Tensions Escalated

The United States and China, trying to ease economic tensions between the superpowers, agreed to a “framework” for extending a trade truce that they reached last month, officials from both countries said on Tuesday.

After two days of marathon negotiations in London, top economic officials from the United States and China are now expected to present the new framework to their leaders, President Trump and President Xi Jinping, for final approval.

The agreement, the full details of which were not immediately released, is intended to solidify terms of a deal that the United States and China reached in Switzerland in May that unraveled in recent weeks. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was part of the negotiating team, said that American concerns over China’s restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals and magnets had been resolved.

“We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus,” Mr. Lutnick told reporters in London, describing the agreement as a “handshake.”

He added that Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi would be briefed on the agreement before it took effect.

“They were focused on trying to deliver on what President Xi told President Trump,” Mr. Lutnick said. “I think both sides had extra impetus to get things done.”

The U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, who took part in the discussions, said they were also focused on ensuring compliance with what was agreed to in Geneva about rare earth mineral exports and tariffs. He said the two sides would remain in regular contact as they tried to work through their economic disagreements.