Top economic officials from the United States and China are set to renew high-stakes trade negotiations on Monday in Stockholm, Sweden, with the potential extension of currently lower tariff levels hanging in the balance. This round of talks marks a critical week for President Donald Trump’s trade policy, as numerous other countries are also scrambling to finalize deals with Washington.
The discussions between the world’s two largest economies are slated to take place over two days in the Swedish capital. The urgency of these talks is amplified by looming deadlines: for dozens of U.S. trading partners, failure to strike an agreement in the coming days could result in significant tariff hikes on their exports to the United States come Friday, August 1. These steeper rates, threatened against countries like Brazil and India, could see duties on their products jump from a current “baseline” of 10 percent to levels as high as 50 percent. Data from The Budget Lab research center at Yale University indicates that tariffs already imposed by the Trump administration have effectively raised duties on U.S. imports to levels not seen since the 1930s.
All eyes are currently focused on the Stockholm discussions between Washington and Beijing. The U.S. delegation includes Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will be meeting with a Chinese team led by Vice Premier He Lifeng. While both countries had imposed tariffs on each other’s products reaching triple-digit levels in April, a 90-day truce, instituted after talks in Geneva in May, temporarily lowered U.S. duties to 30 percent and China’s countermeasures to 10 percent. This truce is set to expire on August 12, adding pressure to the current negotiations. Since the Geneva meeting, the two sides have also convened in London to work through disagreements.
The outcomes of these negotiations will not only impact the trade relationship between the U.S. and China but also have ripple effects across global supply chains and economies. The discussions are expected to be comprehensive, covering a range of trade imbalances, intellectual property rights, and market access issues.
