Topline
Chinese officials said Friday they are examining purported U.S. efforts to initiate trade talks—prompting a rise in U.S. stock futures and European markets—signaling a shift in tone by Beijing, a week after it dismissed the chance of any such dialogue while President Donald Trump’s “unilateral tariffs” remained in effect.
Aerial view of containers for export sitting stacked at Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal.
Key Facts
A Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson told reporters that China has “noticed that senior U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed their willingness to negotiate on tariffs.”
The spokesperson also claimed that the U.S. has “recently” reached out to China through relevant parties, hoping to start talks, and Beijing was currently “evaluating” this.
The Chinese official, however, noted that if the U.S. is keen to negotiate with China, it must show “sincerity” and be ready to take action on correcting its “wrong practices and cancel unilateral tariffs.”
The spokesperson then emphasized that Beijing expects any dialogue or talks to lead to a reversal of Trump’s steep 145% tariffs on Chinese goods and if this is not done it will “further damage trust” between the two sides.
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How Have Markets Reacted To China’s Comments?
U.S. stock futures rose following the remarks, with S&P 500 Futures going up by 0.43% to 5,647.50 points in early trading and Dow Futures rising by 0.5% to 41,061.00 points. Nasdaq Futures also rose slightly to 19,926.25 points, up more than 0.3%. In Europe, the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.75% to 8,560.80 points in morning trading, while the pan-European Stoxx Europe 50 index rose more than 1.1% to 11,843.60 points.
This is a developing story.
