Customs data released Monday showed total exports rose 4.8% in May from a year earlier, much lower than economists' forecasts and down sharply from an 8.1% jump in April.

LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - Top U.S. and Chinese officials will sit down in London on Monday for talks aimed at defusing the high-stakes trade dispute between the two superpowers that has widened in recent weeks beyond tit-for-tat tariffs to export controls over goods and components critical to global supply chains.

Chinese exports of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals at the center of a trade dispute with Washington, rose 23% in May from the previous month, according to customs data on Monday.