US and China Agree to … More Talks With a Trump-Xi Showdown on the Horizon
On Monday 28 July 2025, US and China met in Stockholm for a third round of trade talks after Trump came up with his tariffs on Liberation Day. The US delegation was led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent while the Chinese delegation was led by Vice Premier HE Lifeng.
The Stockholm meeting took place as the deadline for the truce on 12 August 2025 is approaching. After Liberation Day when Trump unveiled his tariff gambit, US-China first met in Geneva and London. At the last meeting in London, China and US hashed out a reciprocal reduction of tariffs during a cool-down period. Nevertheless, several sources of friction involving fentanyl and hydrocarbons are still pending.
After the talks, both sides held a press conference separately. Both sides portrayed the meeting as ‘constructive and positive.’ The Chinese side even declared that an extension in the tariff truce beyond the 12 August 2025 deadline was agreed. However, the American side clarified that they will have to brief US President Trump upon their return to DC and it will be up to the President to make the call.
The main issues from the US perspective is the trade surplus of USD 300 billion for 2024 in favor of China and the stance of China vis-a-vis Russia and Iran. From China’s point of view, the US is acting like an evil hegemon bent on forcing other countries to cough up more money.
In reality, China restricted the export of the Rare Earth Magnets in response to Trump’s tariffs. Currently, the situation is that the US is imposing a 30% tariffs on Chinese goods, while China is charging 10% duty on US products.
Observers note that Trump would probably want a deal to be hashed out before the meeting with Xi is finalized. Both sides would like to look good and appear to have gotten the better deal. Therefore, it will take great negotiating skills and diplomacy flair to actually arrive at a compromise which is palatable to both sides.
Initially, the Chinese would like Trump to attend the Victory Parade scheduled in September 2025. But the US side expressed no hurry to meet as long as no substantial accord is reached. On 30 July 2025, Trump stated that ‘the talks with China were moving along’ and was quite confident that the USA will be able to wrangle a good deal out of China.