Chinese and US officials wrapped the first day in a fresh round of talks in Stockholm on Monday, with the world’s top two economies looking to extend a fragile trade truce in the face of President Donald Trump’s global tariff war.
The talks came a day after Trump reached a deal with the EU that will see the bloc’s exports to the United States taxed at 15 percent.
The negotiations in Sweden concluded shortly before 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), with neither side offering details on their progress, although a US Treasury department spokesman said they were expected to resume on Tuesday.
The United States and China earlier this year imposed triple-digit tariffs on each other in a tit-for-tat escalation, but then walked them back under a temporary agreement reached in May.
The expiry of that 90-day truce falls on August 12, but there are indications they could use the Stockholm talks to push it back further.
The South China Morning Post, citing sources on both sides, reported on Sunday that Washington and Beijing are expected to extend their tariff pause by a further 90 days.
Under the existing accord, US duties on Chinese goods have temporarily been lowered to 30 percent, and China’s countermeasures slashed to 10 percent.
Dozens of other countries, though, face a Trump deadline of Friday this week to seal deals with Washington or see US tariffs against them rise.
Beijing said ahead of the Stockholm meeting that it wants to see “reciprocity” in its trade with the United States.
Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Beijing favoured “consensus through dialogue” to “reduce misunderstandings, strengthen cooperation and promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US relations”.
The negotiating teams in Stockholm were being led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Sweden.
They were meeting in the Rosenbad building, home to the Swedish government. The Chinese and US flags were raised in front of it for the talks.
