Madrid, Spain – Reuters Officials from the United States and China will meet in Madrid on Sunday to discuss long-standing trade disputes.
In addition to setting an imminent deadline for selling the Chinese TikTok application for short videos.
The meeting is being held amid Washington’s demands that the G7 and its European allies impose tariffs on China to stop its purchases of Russian oil.
The talks represent an attempt to prevent the collapse of trade relations between the United States and China under the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
This is the fourth time that American and Chinese officials have met in European cities in four months.
The three officials, along with China’s chief trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, last met in Stockholm in July.
They agreed in principle to extend the trade truce for 90 days.
Which led to a sharp cut in retaliatory three-figure tariffs on both sides and a restart of the flow of rare earths from China to the United States.
Trump agreed to extend current US tariff rates on Chinese goods, which total about 55%, until November 10.
Trade experts said there was little prospect of significant progress in talks hosted by socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has sought to improve relations with Beijing in recent years.
Close TikTok
The most likely outcome of the Madrid talks is seen as another extension of the deadline set for ByteDance, the Chinese owner of the popular TikTok app, to divest its US operations by September 17 or face a US shutdown.
A source familiar with the Trump administration’s discussions about TikTok’s future said no agreement is expected.
But the deadline will be extended for the fourth time since Trump took office in January.
Trump launched a TikTok account last month.
TikTok has not been discussed in previous rounds of US-China trade talks in Geneva, London, and Stockholm.
But the source said that publicly including the issue as an item on the agenda for the Treasury Department’s announcement of the talks gives the Trump administration political cover for another extension.
This could upset both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who have authorized the sale of TikTok to a US entity to reduce national security risks.
Russian oil pressure
The US Treasury Department said that the Madrid talks will also cover joint US-Chinese efforts to combat money laundering.
Referring to long-standing US demands that China crack down on illicit shipments of technology goods to Russia.
Which helps it in its war against Ukraine.
Besant urged G7 allies on Friday to impose “meaningful tariffs” on imports from China and India to pressure them to stop buying Russian oil.
This step aims to involve Moscow in peace negotiations in Ukraine by reducing its oil revenues.
G7 finance ministers said on Friday that they had discussed such measures.
They also agreed to accelerate discussions to use frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine in defense.
The United States imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods due to the country’s purchases of Russian oil.
But it has so far refrained from imposing such punitive duties on Chinese goods.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that the Madrid talks will address economic and trade issues.
Such as US tariffs, “abuse” of export controls, and TikTok.
Spanish moment
A Spanish government source said that Spain’s choice to host the final round of “sensitive” talks is evidence that Madrid is strengthening itself as a headquarters for high-level and strategic negotiations.
Madrid also seeks to be a venue for an international peace conference to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The source added that the Spanish government is also exploiting the event to strengthen its bilateral relations with the United States
This comes after a series of tense clashes with the Trump administration over its criticism of the Israeli attack on Gaza.
In addition to its refusal to commit to spending 5% of its budget on defense, along with other members of NATO.
