STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Officials from the United States and China began a second day of talks in Stockholm on Tuesday to resolve long-standing economic disputes and de-escalate an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
According to Reuters, the meetings may not result in immediate major breakthroughs, but the two sides may agree to another 90-day extension of the tariff truce reached in mid-May. This could also pave the way for a potential meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year, although Trump on Tuesday denied any effort to convene such a meeting.
The delegations met for more than five hours on Monday at Rosenbad, the Swedish Prime Minister’s office in central Stockholm. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was seen arriving at Rosenbad Tuesday morning after a separate meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng also arrived at the meeting venue.
Neither side made any statements after the first day of talks.
China faces an August 12 deadline to reach a permanent tariff agreement with the Trump administration, after reaching preliminary agreements in May and June to end weeks of escalating tariffs and rare earth metals cuts.
Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed disruptions due to the return of US tariffs to triple-digit levels, which could amount to a bilateral trade embargo.
The Stockholm talks come on the heels of Trump’s largest trade deal yet with the European Union on Sunday, which imposes 15% tariffs on most EU goods exports to the United States, as well as an agreement with Japan.
The Financial Times reported on Monday that the United States has suspended restrictions on technology exports to China to avoid disrupting trade talks with Beijing and support Trump’s efforts to secure a meeting with Xi this year.
Trump denied suggestions he was seeking a meeting with Xi, writing on Truth Social: “Not true. I’m not seeking anything! I may go to China, but only at the invitation of President Xi, which was extended to me. Otherwise, no point!”
Complex conversations
Meanwhile, US senators from both major parties in Washington plan to introduce bills this week targeting China over its treatment of minorities, dissidents, and Taiwan, with a focus on security and human rights, potentially complicating the Stockholm talks.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is also set to postpone a visit his team was scheduled to make to the Trump administration in August.
The potential visit would have angered Beijing and possibly derailed trade talks. China insists that Taiwan is part of its territory, a position Taiwan rejects and condemns any support for Taipei from Washington.
Previous US-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on reducing retaliatory US-China tariffs from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China, Nvidia (NVDA.O) artificial intelligence chips, and other goods halted by the US.
Among broader economic issues, Washington complains that China’s state-led, export-driven model floods global markets with cheap goods, while Beijing says U.S. national security export controls on technology goods seek to stifle Chinese growth.
Bessent has already indicated an extension to the deadline and said he wants China to rebalance its economy away from exports to more domestic consumption — a decades-long goal of U.S. policymakers.
Analysts say that US-China negotiations are far more complex than those with other Asian countries and will take longer. China’s control of the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military equipment to windshield wiper motors, has proven to be an effective means of pressuring US industries.
