US Treasury: "Talks with China next week to discuss extending high tariffs deferral"

Meeting in Stockholm on the 28th-29th

Extension deadline approaching on the 12th of next month

"Will negotiate issues beyond trade as well"

The United States and China will hold their third high-level trade talks since the launch of the Donald Trump administration next week in Stockholm, Sweden, Scott Besant, US Treasury Secretary, said on the 22nd.

Secretary Besant stated in a Fox Business interview that "I will be in Stockholm with our Chinese counterparts next Monday and Tuesday (28th-29th)," adding, "It is highly likely that an extension plan will be discussed at this meeting." He also said, "Trade negotiations with China are in a very good place."

Secretary Besant participated as the US representative in the first and second rounds of US-China trade talks held in Geneva in May and in London last month, having met with He Lifeng, Vice Premier of China, and others.

At the May Geneva talks, the two countries agreed to sharply lower the tariffs—which had each exceeded 100%—by 115 percentage points for 90 days, and at the London talks, after a marathon negotiation lasting about 20 hours, they produced a framework to implement the agreements from the first meeting in Geneva. After these negotiations, the US eased its restrictions on semiconductor exports to China, and China also resumed some rare earth exports.

In the interview, Secretary Besant confirmed that "the agreement expires on August 12," and added, "we will work on what is likely to be extended." This indicates a high probability that the US-China ultra-high tariff reductions will be extended.

He also pointed out that China's purchases of Russian and Iranian oil may be included in the agenda. In a CNBC interview the previous day, Secretary Besant stated, "China is purchasing a significant amount of oil from Iran and Russia," and indicated willingness to discuss this matter with China during the talks.

Earlier, Secretary Besant had said that there was a possibility of a trade deal being reached by August 1, the new tariff implementation date mentioned in letters sent by President Trump to the leaders of major trading partners. He said, "August 1 is quite a definite deadline," and "In my view, tariff levels will likely return to the reciprocal tariff rates as of April 2."

Han Kyungjae, hankyung@hankyung.com