US, China to continue talks on tariffs truce
Officials from Beijing and Washington on Tuesday agreed to continue talks on extending tariff rates under an established 90-day truce.
China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, discussed the progress during a press conference in Sweden, where officials have held talks for the past two days.
“The Chinese and U.S. economic and trade teams will maintain active communication, exchange views on economic and trade issues in a timely manner, and continue to promote the stable and healthy development of bilateral economic and trade relations,” Li told reporters, according to Reuters.
U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer provided a positive report from negotiations, noting that President Trump will ultimately have the final say over a further tariff truce extension.
“We’ll report back to him the process we had here,” Greer told reporters, according to Reuters. “We had constructive meetings for sure, to go back with the positive report. But the extension of the pause, he’ll decide.”
He added that the conversation was candid and in-depth on both sides, notes Bloomberg.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the current agreement could be extended out to 90 days.
He told reporters Tuesday remaining issues were “small” according to Bloomberg, noting Trump would be briefed on concerns by Wednesday.
“I just had a phone call from Scott Bessent, and he had a very good meeting with China. Seems that, they’re going to brief me tomorrow, we’ll either approve it or not,’ Trump told reporters on Tuesday, according to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister station.
“But he felt very good about the meeting, better than he felt yesterday.”
Chinese leaders have said that they want a deal that is mutually beneficial while Trump has weighed the option of visiting Beijing to discuss a more permanent rate in person with President Xi Jinping.
On Monday, Trump said he was not seeking a “summit” with Jinping but would be open to discussion of talks if they were initiated from the other side.
“The Fake News is reporting that I am SEEKING a ‘Summit’ with President Xi of China. This is not correct, I am not SEEKING anything! I may go to China, but it would only be at the invitation of President Xi, which has been extended,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post. “Otherwise, no interest! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Updated at 3:34 p.m. EDT.