The US-China talks have concluded after six hours. Trump: Beijing is a “tough” dialogue partner.

The US-China negotiations were held as scheduled on June 9 in London, attracting global attention. The talks took place at Lancaster House, a 19th-century building near Buckingham Palace. The first round of talks lasted approximately six hours. According to local time, the talks began at 8:00 p.m. and continued until around 3:00 a.m. 

Since this round of talks took place after the leaders of both sides had a phone call, it also signifies that both sides will demonstrate the utmost sincerity to achieve tangible progress in the negotiations.

According to a report by Bloomberg, during the negotiations on the 9th, the focus of discussions between China and the US will shift from tariffs to export controls, with an emphasis on Trump's intention to ease export controls on chips to China in exchange for China's control over rare earth exports.

The reason Trump is making such a significant concession to reach an agreement with China is primarily because he previously extended the deadline for reciprocal tariffs to July 9. Now that the deadline is approaching, aside from the agreement reached between the UK and the US, other countries are in a state of anticipation. If the US can reach an agreement with China at this time, it would set a positive example for other nations.

In addition, China's rare earth restrictions have hit Western military companies hard. Three years of conflict between Russia and Ukraine have almost depleted Western weapons, and without rare earths, fighter jets, missiles, and other military hardware, they would not be able to survive and replenish their arsenals. This has also increased their pressure when facing Russia. Therefore, both the US and Europe want to obtain rare earths from China.

Furthermore, with the impending collapse of U.S. government bonds and persistently high inflation within the United States, Trump must find a way to negotiate an agreement with China to relax export controls. Otherwise, he will be unable to account for his actions to both major political parties in the United States.

After the first day of negotiations ended, Besant changed his serious demeanor from before the negotiations and called it a “good meeting,” while Lutnik called the talks “fruitful.” Afterward, Trump also went online immediately and said that the negotiations had received “only positive signals,” but that Beijing was still a “difficult” dialogue partner.