Representatives of the United States and China are meeting today in the Spanish capital Madrid to discuss a number of accumulated trade disputes, including the upcoming deadline for the sale of the American assets of the Chinese app TikTok and Washington's insistence on G-7 partners and the EU to impose tariffs against Beijing in order to limit purchases of Russian oil, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
This is the fourth such meeting in the last four months, which is attended by US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, US Trade Representative Jamison Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifen. Their previous meeting was held in July in Stockholm, when the parties agreed in principle to a 90-day extension of the trade truce, which led to a significant reduction in mutual tariffs and the restoration of exports of rare earth elements from China to the United States.
President Donald Trump approved the extension of existing tariffs on Chinese goods (about 55%) until November 10.
Experts expect the Madrid meeting to fail to produce a breakthrough on key issues, but it could provide another postponement of the deadline (September 17) for the Chinese company "ByteDance" to sell its TikTok operations in the United States to avoid a ban there. According to a source familiar with the matter, a deal is not expected, but a new postponement of the deadline is almost certain - the fourth in a row since the beginning of Donald Trump's administration.
The issue with "TikTok" has not been on the official agenda of the talks between the two countries, but its inclusion this time, analysts say, gives Washington a political justification for the postponement. However, it is likely to cause discontent among both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who are pushing for the sale of "TikTok" to American investors on national security grounds.
Former U.S. trade negotiator Wendy Cutler, now director of the Asia Policy Society in Washington, said that more substantial results would likely be reserved for a possible meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year - possibly at the APEC forum in Seoul in late October. She said a deal on TikTok could then be reached, lifting restrictions on Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans and easing tariffs on Chinese goods related to fentanyl.
However, Cutler said the deep economic differences between the two countries – including the U.S. insistence that China reorient its economy toward domestic consumption and reduce export subsidies – would not be overcome anytime soon.
“China is in no rush to make a deal without serious concessions on export controls and tariffs, and the U.S. does not seem willing to make such concessions without progress on its core demands,” she said.
Pressure for sanctions on Russian oil
The U.S. Treasury Department said the Madrid talks would also include topics such as combating money laundering and exporting technology to Russia. On Friday, Minister Besant called on G7 countries to impose "significant tariffs" on imports from China and India as pressure to stop purchases of Russian oil.
The Group of Seven said it would accelerate discussions on using frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. Besant and Greer stressed in a joint statement that only "a united effort to stop the financing of Putin's war machine" could exert sufficient economic pressure.
Spain to host talks
The Spanish government, led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, is seeking maximum international visibility for the talks. Foreign Minister José Manuel Álvarez said the country would continue to work to "strengthen economic relations with China within the framework of European strategic interests."