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'Very close to China deal': Trump hopeful as trade negotiators meet in Stockholm
US President Donald Trump said that Washington, DC, is 'very close' to a trade deal with China, as senior negotiators from both nations meet in Stockholm on Monday. The talks aim to resolve longstanding economic disputes that are at the heart of the trade war between the world's two largest economies.
The negotiations are being conducted at a time when China is facing an Aug 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with the Trump administration. It is pertinent to note that both nations reached a preliminary deal in June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs.
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Before meeting European Union Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, Trump expressed optimism over the deal. 'We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how that goes,' the president told reporters, providing no further details over the matter.
What lies ahead
The Stockholm talks are led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and are coming right on the heels of Trump's biggest trade deal yet, with the EU accepting a 15 per cent tariff on its goods exports to the US and agreeing to make significant EU purchases of US energy and military equipment.
Without an agreement between China and the US, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil of high duties that can go beyond the 100 per cent mark. Analysts believe that while the trade deal between Beijing and Washington, DC might not be as grand as the one Trump struck with the EU, another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce is more likely to be the outcome, Business Times reported.
Interestingly, an extension of the deadline would prevent further escalation of the trade war between the two nations and would also create a space for a possible meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. There have been speculations that the two leaders can hold talks in late October.
Trump-Xi meeting on the cards?
In the past, Trump has said that he will decide soon whether to visit China in a landmark trip to address trade and security tensions. 'The Stockholm meeting is an opportunity to start laying the groundwork for a Trump visit to China,' Wendy Cutler, vice-president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told Business Times.
Meanwhile, Bessent has already maintained that he wants to work out an extension of the Aug 12 deadline to prevent tariffs snapping back to 145 per cent on the US side and 125 per cent on the Chinese side. Beijing, on the other hand, is likely to request a reduction of multi-layered US tariffs totalling 55 per cent on most goods and further easing of US high-tech export controls, experts said.
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China argued that these purchases would help reduce the US trade deficit with China, which reached US$295.5 billion in 2024. China is currently facing a 20 per cent tariff related to the US fentanyl crisis, a 10 per cent reciprocal tariff, and 25 per cent duties on most industrial goods imposed during Trump's first term.
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