Trade to tech war: why Trump picked his export control head for next China talks
Beijing and Washington maintained restrictions after Geneva truce – setting stage for tough negotiations on chips, jets and minerals
A key signal was the addition of US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to the negotiation table, joining US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer – announced by Trump on social media following the call.
Lutnick, whose department oversees the US Bureau of Industry and Security – an agency responsible for export controls – is viewed as one of the Trump administration’s most hawkish figures on China.
As a result, future bilateral talks would expand beyond a focus on tariffs, said Xu Weijun, a researcher at the Institute of Public Policy at South China University of Technology in Guangzhou.
“Tariffs will no longer grab much of the limelight, it will be tech,” Xu said.
This came as the world’s two biggest economies maintained, or even intensified, controls on critical mineral and advanced technology exports – despite a deal reached in mid-May when both sides agreed to dramatically cut tariffs for 90 days.