U.S. and China Hold High-Stakes Trade Talks in Stockholm Ahead of Tariff Deadline

Reuters

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson greets Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at Rosenbad ahead of tr

Senior economic officials from the United States and China met in Stockholm on Monday for over five hours of discussions aimed at resolving long-standing trade disputes and extending their tariff truce by a further three months.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent led the American delegation, which arrived at Rosenbad—the Swedish Prime Minister’s Office in central Stockholm—early in the afternoon. China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng was also present, as confirmed by video footage from the venue.

The high-level negotiations come ahead of a looming deadline: China must reach a lasting tariff agreement with the administration of President Donald Trump by 12 August. This follows preliminary deals struck in May and June, which helped ease weeks of escalating retaliatory tariffs and restrictions, including Beijing’s suspension of rare earth mineral exports.

Negotiators were seen departing the venue around 8 p.m. local time (18:00 GMT) without commenting to the press. Talks are expected to continue on Tuesday.

During a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, President Trump referenced the ongoing discussions.
"I'd love to see China open up their country," he said.

Without a durable agreement, global supply chains could face renewed disruption, as U.S. tariffs are set to snap back to punitive triple-digit levels—effectively amounting to a trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who also attended the talks, told CNBC that a major breakthrough was not anticipated.

"What I expect is continued monitoring and checking in on the implementation of our agreement thus far, making sure that key critical minerals are flowing between the parties and setting the groundwork for enhanced trade and balanced trade going forward," he said.

The Stockholm discussions follow President Trump’s landmark trade agreement with the European Union on Sunday, which imposes a 15% tariff on most EU exports to the United States.

Trade analysts believe a further 90-day extension of the truce initially agreed in mid-May is likely. Such an extension would give both sides time to prepare for a possible summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November.

Meanwhile, The Financial Times reported on Monday that the U.S. has temporarily paused certain tech export restrictions to China in order to avoid jeopardising negotiations and to support Trump's efforts to secure a meeting with Xi.

Earlier rounds of U.S.-China negotiations held in Geneva and London in May and June focused on de-escalating mutual tariffs, restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China, and resolving the U.S. block on key Chinese imports, including Nvidia’s H20 AI chips.



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