Photos: US and China meet for trade talks
A late update! The US have got their handshake, at least – with US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng posing for a photo at Lancaster House at today’s talks.
The six top negotiators at today’s talks have posed for a photo too:
Closing post
Time for a recap.
Top US and Chinese officials are meeting at Lancaster House in London today, to try to make progress in their trade negotiations.
US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and trade representative Jamieson Greer are leading the US group, while China’s delegation is led by vice-premier He Lifeng.
The talks are expected to focus on supplies of rare earth minerals and permanent magnets, following claims that China is restricting access, which could lead to production outages in the US.
Kevin Hassett, director of Donald Trump’s National Economic Council, says the US are hoping for a handshake commitment from China that they will supply more rare earth minerals.
He told CNBC:
“And so really the purpose of the meeting today is to make sure that they’re serious, but to literally get handshakes from Scott, and Howard, and Jamieson, our three lead trade negotiators, and get this thing behind us.”
Talks are expected to drag into tomorrow.
The talks come on an exciting day for takeover drama in the City of London, with several UK companies snapped up, or being eyed up, by overseas buyers.
This are:
Semiconductor designer Alphawave, which is being acquired by Qualcomm for $2.4bn
Precision equipment maker Spectris, which is in talks with private equity group Advent International over a £4.4bn deal
Technology start-up Oxford Ionics is being bought by US quantum computing company IonQ in a $1.1bn deal.
Brokerage Peel Hunt has calculated that there have been 30 bids for UK companies at over £100m market cap so far this year with a total value of £25bn. Spectris and Alphawave are the largest.
Peel Hunt add:
Companies in the UK seem to be far more attractive to acquirors than investors. The root cause is the consistent outflow of capital from domestic markets. If we want the UK equity market to thrive, an urgent rethink is required to ensure that UK capital backs UK companies.
There’s also a corporate shake-up in the US, where Warner Bros Discovery has decided to split its business into two publicly traded companies, one focused on its streaming and studios business and the other on its television network businesses.
Updated
