White House may suspend plans for next round of trade tariffs

Washington may not go ahead with another round of levies on Chinese exports while the two capitals are preparing to resume trade talks.

According to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the situation, the decision was still under consideration and might be announced following the meeting between the US and Chinese Presidents scheduled for 29 June.

Also according to Bloomberg, on Monday, America's Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer and China's vice-premier Liu He, had discussed the broad outline of the agenda for talks between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

Citing the Americans' interpretation of that telephone conversation, both sides reportedly discussed how to sell the restart of talks as a win to their respective domestic audiences.

However, the US was not willing to accept any other conditions regarding tariffs in order to kick-start negotiations and no detailed trade plan was expected.

Both sides reportedly also agreed to dial back on tit-for-tat retaliations and to aim for a truce, in part so as to avoid dislocations in financial markets. However, it was not clear if a specific timetable for reaching an agreement would be set out.

Some advisers to the US side had recommended that no hard deadline be placed.

China was said to be unwilling to agree to any meeting unless any new tariffs were delayed, but was willing to shelve its plans for curbs on exports of rare earths to the US.