New round of China-US tariff talks next week: Bessett
Scott Bessent says trade with China was in "a very good place". File photo: Reuters
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he will meet his Chinese counterparts in Stockholm next week for tariff talks, as a mid-August deadline for levies to snap back to steeper levels approaches.
Bessent told Fox Business that trade with China was in "a very good place", and the meetings in the Swedish capital will take place next Monday and Tuesday.
"I think we've actually moved to a new level with China, where it's very constructive and... we're going to be able to get a lot of things done now that trade has kind of settled in at a good level," he said.
That will be the third round of high-level negotiations to work out what he said would be a likely extension of the August 12 deadline for higher tariffs.
Beijing has not commented on Bessent's remarks on the talks.
While a previous tariff truce was focused on restarting the flow of Chinese rare earth metals and US semiconductor software and materials, Bessent said that in Stockholm, Trump administration officials would discuss other issues, including reducing China's over-reliance on manufacturing and exports.
Earlier this year, Beijing and Washington slapped escalating, tit-for-tat levies on each other's exports, reaching triple-digit levels, stalling trade between the world's two biggest economies as tensions surged.
But after top officials met in Geneva, both sides agreed to temporarily lower the tariff levels in a de-escalation set to expire next month.
Bassett also said the US was poised to announce "a rash of trade deals" with other countries, and Japan could be among these despite an election setback for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and difficult negotiations.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we aren't able to iron out something with Japan pretty quickly," he said. (Reuters/AFP)
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