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Free Malaysia Today
21 hours ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Bessent says US, China to discuss tariff deadline extension
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said today trade with China is in 'a very good place'. (EPA Images pic) WASHINGTON : US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said today that he will meet his Chinese counterpart next week in Stockholm and discuss what is likely to be an extension of an Aug 12 deadline for a deal to avert sharply higher tariffs. Bessent told Fox Business Network's Mornings With Maria programme that trade with China was in 'a very good place' and the meetings in Stockholm would take place next Monday and Tuesday. 'I think we've actually moved to a new level with China, where it's very constructive and… we're going to be able to get a lot of things done now that trade has kind of settled in at a good level,' Bessent said. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson confirmed in a post on X that Sweden will host the US-China trade talks early next week. 'It is positive that both countries wish to meet in Sweden to seek mutual understanding,' Kristersson said. China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment to confirm the planned meetings and Chinese participants. Since mid-May, Bessent has met twice with Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng in Geneva and London to work out and refine a temporary trade truce that dialled back duelling triple-digit retaliatory tariffs that threatened to cut off all trade between the world's two largest economies. US trade representative Jamieson Greer, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, China's commerce minister Wang Wentao and chief trade negotiator Li Chenggang also participated in those talks. In talks so far, China has agreed to end its export ban on rare earth metals and magnets to the US, while the US agreed to restart shipments of semiconductor design software and production materials, as well as commercial aircraft engines and other goods to China. But the two sides set a 90-day deadline to resolve deeper issues, including US complaints about China's state-led and subsidised export-driven economic model that has created excess manufacturing capacity in China that is flooding world markets with cheap goods. China denies that it subsidises its industries and attributes their export success to innovation. Tariffs could snap back to 145% on the US side and 125% on the Chinese side without a deal or negotiating extension. 'We'll be working out what is likely an extension' at the Stockholm talks, Bessent said, adding that US officials would discuss other issues, including reducing China's over-reliance on manufacturing and exports. 'Hopefully we can see the Chinese pull back on some of this glut of manufacturing that they're doing and concentrate on building a consumer economy,' Bessent said. Russian oil sanctions He said he also wants to issue warnings to China about continuing to buy sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil and China's efforts to aid Russia's war against Ukraine. Bessent said that there was bipartisan support in the US senate for legislation aimed at imposing tariffs of 100% on goods from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, namely China and India. 'I'm going to be in touch with my European counterparts. The Europeans that have talked a big game about sanctioning Russia, and it'll be very important for the Europeans to also be willing to put on these high level of secondary tariffs for sanctioned Russian oil.' He said that the US was poised to announce 'a rash of trade deals' with other countries, and Japan could be among these despite an election setback for Japan's ruling party and difficult negotiations. 'I wouldn't be surprised if we aren't able to iron out something with Japan pretty quickly,' Bessent said. Nonetheless, he said that for most countries, tariffs would 'boomerang' back towards April 2 levels from the current 10%, but negotiations on trade deals could continue.
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
China's Vice Premier He to hold US trade talks in Sweden
BEIJING, July 23 (Reuters) - China's Vice Premier He Lifeng will visit Sweden from July 27-30 to hold economic and trade talks with U.S. officials, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Wednesday.
RTHK
a day ago
- Business
- RTHK
HK stocks surge on hopes of Sino-US deal
HK stocks surge on hopes of Sino-US deal The Hang Seng Index ended trading on Wednesday at 25,538 on gains of 408 points or 1.62 percent. File photo: RTHK Hong Kong stocks were lifted by hopes of a Sino-US trade deal on Wednesday after an announcement that Tokyo had struck a deal for lower tariffs with Washington. The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended 408 points, or 1.62 percent, up at close at 25,538. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 1.82 percent to end at 9,241 while the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 2.48 percent to 5,745. The gains came as the Commerce Ministry in Beijing announced that Vice Premier He Lifeng would visit Sweden from July 27-30 to hold economic and trade talks with US officials. Trading on the mainland ended up being mixed and much more subdued. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.01 percent to 3,582 while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.37 percent down at 11,059. Their combined turnover was more than 1.86 trillion yuan, down from 1.89 trillion yuan on Tuesday. Stocks related to aesthetic medicine, new medicine and insurance led gains while stocks related to cement and building materials and power grids suffered major losses. The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.01 percent to close at 2,310. In Tokyo, news of the Japanese-US tariff deal saw the benchmark Nikkei stock index climbing almost 4 percent to its highest in a year, led by stocks in automakers with gains of more than 14 percent for Toyota and nearly 11 percent for Honda. (Reuters/Xinhua)
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
US Treasury chief says trade talks with China to continue next week in Sweden
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he would meet his Chinese counterparts in Sweden next week to continue trade talks between the two countries, suggesting the current pause in sky-high tariffs could be extended. Bessent told Fox Business that he would be speaking with Chinese officials on Monday and Tuesday for a third round of high-level talks in Stockholm – following face-to-face discussions he held with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Geneva and London – to work out a likely extension of the pause beyond mid-August. Beijing has yet to confirm the Stockholm talks, but Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson confirmed in a post on X on Tuesday that his country would play host to the US-China negotiations next week. After US President Donald Trump's announcement of 'reciprocal' tariffs on April 2, Washington and Beijing raised punitive levies on each other's exports to triple-digit percentage levels. Since then, trade relations have thawed somewhat as the countries have engaged in talks, marked by a June telephone call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Monday Bessent said that the talks were 'in a good place', a sanguine take on negotiations echoed by Beijing's embassy in Washington, which said 'new progress' had been made in resolving each other's economic and trade concerns.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
US, China to discuss tariff deadline extension in Stockholm, Bessent says
WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he will meet his Chinese counterpart next week in Stockholm and discuss what is likely to be an extension of an August 12 deadline for a deal to avert sharply higher tariffs. Bessent told Fox Business Network's Mornings With Maria program that trade with China was in "a very good place" and the meetings in Stockholm would take place next Monday and Tuesday. "I think we've actually moved to a new level with China, where it's very constructive and... we're going to be able to get a lot of things done now that trade has kind of settled in at a good level," Bessent said. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson confirmed in a post on X that Sweden will host the U.S.-China trade talks early next week. "It is positive that both countries wish to meet in Sweden to seek mutual understanding," Kristersson said. China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment to confirm the planned meetings and Chinese participants. Since mid-May, Bessent has met twice with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Geneva and London to work out and refine a temporary trade truce that dialed back dueling triple-digit retaliatory tariffs that threatened to cut off all trade between the world's two largest economies. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and chief trade negotiator Li Chenggang also participated in those talks. In talks so far, China has agreed to end its export ban on rare earth metals and magnets to the U.S., while the U.S. agreed to restart shipments of semiconductor design software and production materials, as well as commercial aircraft engines and other goods to China. But the two sides set a 90-day deadline to resolve deeper issues, including U.S. complaints about China's state-led and subsidized export-driven economic model that has created excess manufacturing capacity in China that is flooding world markets with cheap goods. China denies that it subsidizes its industries and attributes their export success to innovation. Tariffs could snap back to 145% on the U.S. side and 125% on the Chinese side without a deal or negotiating extension. "We'll be working out what is likely an extension" at the Stockholm talks, Bessent said, adding that U.S. officials would discuss other issues, including reducing China's over-reliance on manufacturing and exports. "Hopefully we can see the Chinese pull back on some of this glut of manufacturing that they're doing and concentrate on building a consumer economy," Bessent said. He said he also wants to issue warnings to China about continuing to buy sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil and China's efforts to aid Russia's war against Ukraine. Bessent said that there was bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate for legislation aimed at imposing tariffs of 100% on goods from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, namely China and India. "I'm going to be in touch with my European counterparts. The Europeans that have talked a big game about sanctioning Russia, and it'll be very important for the Europeans to also be willing to put on these high level of secondary tariffs for sanctioned Russian oil." He said that the U.S. was poised to announce "a rash of trade deals" with other countries, and Japan could be among these despite an election setback for Japan's ruling party and difficult negotiations. "I wouldn't be surprised if we aren't able to iron out something with Japan pretty quickly," Bessent said. Nonetheless, he said that for most countries, tariffs would "boomerang" back towards April 2 levels from the current 10%, but negotiations on trade deals could continue.
