US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he would meet his Chinese counterparts in Sweden next week to continue trade talks between the two countries, suggesting the current pause in sky-high tariffs aimed at each other could be extended.
Bessent told Fox Business that he would speak with Chinese officials on Monday and Tuesday for a third round of high-level talks in Stockholm – following face-to-face discussions he held with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Geneva and London – to work out a likely extension of the pause beyond mid-August.
Beijing has yet to confirm the Stockholm talks, but Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a post on X on Tuesday that his country would play host to the US-China negotiations next week.
Since then, trade relations have thawed somewhat as the countries have engaged in talks, marked by a June telephone call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
On Monday Bessent said that the talks were “in a good place”, a sanguine take on negotiations echoed by Beijing’s embassy in Washington, which said “new progress” had been made in resolving each other’s economic and trade concerns.
