Input Stories

U.S.–China trade talks featuring top officials from both countries continued for a second day today in London, amid optimistic statements from the Trump administration (CNBC).

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are meeting with their counterparts for negotiations over tariff policies and China’s export controls on critical minerals, among other points of contention (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).

Positive statements: President Trump said on Monday that he was “only getting good reports” on the negotiation, adding, “We’re doing well with China. China’s not easy,” (Reuters). He did not provide any details about the discussions.

• As Secretary Lutnick arrived for the second day, he told reporters that talks were “going well,” saying that the parties had “talked all day yesterday and will talk all day today.”
• National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday that the negotiations were expected “to be a short meeting with a big, strong handshake.” He continued, “Our expectation is that … immediately after the handshake, any export controls from the U.S. will be eased, and the rare earths will be released in volume, and then we can go back to negotiating smaller matters.”

The NAM says : In an interview with NewsNation Monday morning, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons described what manufacturers are looking for from trade deals with China and other U.S. trading partners.

• About a critical minerals agreement with China, Timmons said, “We can mine certain critical minerals here in the United States, [but] we can’t process them. We need to deal with that in the future, for sure. But until that time, we need to figure out a way to get … the processed critical minerals here, so that we can build chips, so we can build our automobiles and other types of manufactured products.”
• Timmons also underlined that manufacturers are still concerned about tariffs, pointing out that the NAM’s Q2 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey “dropped significantly from 70% optimism down to 55%. Manufacturers are very concerned about what’s ahead.”

The NAM recommends: Timmons highlighted the NAM’s solutions to help the administration achieve its goal of more investment in manufacturing in the U.S., saying, “If we think in terms of the carrots and the sticks that the administration is putting forward, carrots include tax reforms, making sure that we have a modernized regulatory system, workforce development, trade policy and energy development as well as permitting reform, but we’ve got to get our trade policies right. We can’t increase the cost of doing business in the United States and hope that manufacturing investment follows.”

• “[The NAM has] proposed a Manufacturing Investment Accelerator Program. [As] the president [is] developing his policies, [it will help] to have a speed pass for critical inputs, so that we can treat those items duty free, so that manufacturers can put machines on a shop floor or bring in the critical minerals, so we can build more things here in this country.”