To lock up a trade deal with China, President Donald Trump has reportedly authorized Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to lift trade restrictions in place with the U.S.’ chief rival for the world’s economic superpower.

The lifting of export controls is the ace in a hole for Bessent as the U.S. and Chinese officials meet for trade talks Monday in London, sources told The Wall Street Journal.

“Historically, export controls have never been used as leverage for trade negotiations,” Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s Kevin Wolf told the Journal. “There is no precedent for this.”

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