Top officials from the US and China have agreed on a way to restart their trade discussions after several disagreements that almost stopped them, according to reports from both countries.

The announcement was made after two days of discussions in London, which finished late on Tuesday.

The meetings seemed to focus on finding a way to solve disagreements about mineral and technology exports. These disagreements had affected a sensitive trade agreement made in Geneva last month. It's not clear if they made any progress on the main issues regarding China's large trade surplus with the United States.

First, we needed to deal with the negative feelings, and now we can make progress," U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters after the meetings.

Asian stock markets went up on Wednesday following the announcement of the deal.

The discussions happened after President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping talked on the phone last week to try and make things less tense.

Li Chenggang, a senior official from China's commerce department, announced that both sides have mostly agreed on a plan. This plan will help them carry out the decisions they made during a phone call and meetings in Geneva, according to Xinhua News Agency.

More information, including any plans for the next round of talks, was not available immediately.

Li and Wang Wentao, who is China's commerce minister, were part of a group led by Vice Premier He Lifeng. They met with Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at Lancaster House, an old mansion near Buckingham Palace.

Wendy Cutler, who used to be a U.S. trade negotiator, said that 30 of the 90 days the two sides had to solve their disagreements have already been wasted.

In Geneva, they agreed to temporarily stop most of the high taxes they had put on each other for 90 days. This was done to reduce worries about a possible economic slowdown caused by their trade dispute. Also, the World Bank has lowered its forecasts for economic growth in the U.S. and globally this year, due to an increase in trade barriers.

Cutler, a vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said that the U.S. and China wasted important time in getting their Geneva agreements working again. He added that they now only have two months to discuss important problems like unfair trade, too much production, illegal shipping, and the drug fentanyl.

Since the discussions in Geneva, the U.S. and China have had disagreements about advanced computer chips used for AI, visas for Chinese students at American universities, and rare minerals that are important for car companies and other industries.

China, which produces the most rare earth minerals in the world, has indicated it might give out export licenses for these minerals faster. In return, China wants the U.S. to take away its restrictions on Chinese companies using technology for making advanced computer chips.

Lutnick said that solving the rare earths problem is an important part of the agreement, and the U.S. will remove the actions it had taken in response. He didn't say which actions.

He said that when the licenses are approved, our exports should go down.

Cutler said it would be very unusual for the U.S. to discuss its export controls. She mentioned that China has considered these controls a problem for almost 20 years.

By doing this, the U.S. has given China a reason to include export controls in future discussions, she said.

A court in Washington has allowed the government to continue collecting special taxes on imported goods, which were started by Trump. These taxes affect products from China and many other countries. The government is appealing a decision that went against this important trade policy.

Trump said before that he wants to make it easier for American products to be sold in China, which is a very important country for making things.

Trump said at the White House that if they didn't open up China, they might not take any action, but they really wanted to open it up.