Latest news with #USChinaTalks
South China Morning Post
02-08-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
US Treasury secretary says China meetings have ‘advanced our talks'
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that meetings with his Chinese counterparts this week 'advanced our talks', but stopped short of confirming that US President Donald Trump approved the consensus that Beijing claimed they had reached. Advertisement 'This week's negotiations in Stockholm have advanced our talks with China, and I believe that we have the makings of a deal that will benefit both of our great nations,' Bessent wrote on X. 'Thanks to the powerful bond between @POTUS and President Xi, I am optimistic about the path forward,' he added, without specifying where consensus stands following talks that ended on Tuesday. Since then, the US side has been seen taking its time to confirm any new agreement reached with China, its third-largest trading partner after neighbouring Mexico and Canada. China's vice-minister of commerce, Li Chenggang, who also took part in the talks, said before leaving Stockholm on Tuesday that a pause on new tariff increases – in place since May – would be extended, but neither Trump nor Bessent has made similar announcements. Advertisement The Trump administration has instead delivered mixed messages.
South China Morning Post
01-08-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
US treasury secretary says meetings with Chinese have ‘advanced our talks'
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that meetings with his Chinese counterparts this week 'advanced our talks', but stopped short of confirming that US President Donald Trump approved the consensus that Beijing claimed they had reached. 'This week's negotiations in Stockholm have advanced our talks with China, and I believe that we have the makings of a deal that will benefit both of our great nations,' Bessent wrote on X. 'Thanks to the powerful bond between @POTUS and President Xi, I am optimistic about the path forward,' he added, without specifying where consensus stands following talks that ended on Tuesday. Since then, the US side is seen taking its time to confirm any new agreement reached with China, its third-largest trading partner, after neighbouring Mexico and Canada. China's vice-minister of commerce, Li Chenggang, who also took part in the talks, said before leaving Stockholm on Tuesday that a pause on new tariff increases – in place since May – would be extended, but neither Trump nor Bessent has made similar announcements. The Trump administration has instead delivered mixed messages.
Arab News
29-07-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Oil Updates — prices steady amid economic concerns, US rate decision awaited
SINGAPORE: Oil prices were steady on Tuesday amid uncertainty about the global economic outlook following the US-EU trade deal, and as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. Brent crude futures were up 1 cent at $70.05 a barrel at 8:10 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $66.69, down 2 cents. Both contracts settled more than 2 percent higher in the previous session, and Brent touched its highest level since July 18 on Monday. The trade agreement between the US and the European Union, while imposing a 15 percent import tariff on most EU goods, sidestepped a full-blown trade war between the two major allies that would have rippled across nearly a third of global trade and dimmed the outlook for fuel demand. The agreement also calls for $750 billion of EU purchases of US energy in the coming years, which analysts say the EU has virtually no chance of meeting, while European companies are to invest $600 billion in the US over the course of President Donald Trump's second term. While the US-EU trade deal finalization came as a relief for global markets amid heightened uncertainty, the timeline and milestones targeted for the investments are unclear, said ANZ analysts in a note. 'We think the 15 percent rate will pose headwinds to the Euro area's growth outlook but is unlikely to push the economy into recession.' Meanwhile, top economic officials from the US and China met in Stockholm on Monday for more than five hours of talks to resolve longstanding economic disputes at the center of a trade war between the world's top two economies. The discussions are expected to resume on Tuesday. Oil market participants are also awaiting the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting on July 29-30, where the Fed is widely expected to hold rates but could signal a dovish tilt amid signs of cooling inflation, said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at brokerage Phillip Nova. 'Momentum favors the upside in the near term, but the market is vulnerable to volatility triggered by central bank surprises or a breakdown in trade negotiations,' said Sachdeva. 'The likelihood of an economic slowdown and the Federal Reserve's potential rate cuts remain uncertain, limiting the upside in oil.' Meanwhile, Trump set a new deadline on Monday of '10 or 12 days' for Russia to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or face sanctions. Trump has threatened sanctions on both Russia and buyers of its exports unless progress is made.
Yahoo
28-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US, China to launch new talks on tariff truce extension, easing path for Trump-Xi meeting
By David Lawder STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials will resume talks in Stockholm on Monday to try to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world's top two economies, aiming to extend a truce by three months and keeping sharply higher tariffs at bay. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with President Donald Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from U.S. duties snapping back to triple-digit levels that would amount to a bilateral trade embargo. The Stockholm talks come hot on the heels of Trump's biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on Sunday for a 15% tariff on most EU goods exports to the U.S., including autos. The bloc will also buy $750 billion worth of American energy and make $600 billion worth of U.S. investments in coming years. No similar breakthrough is expected in the U.S.-China talks but trade analysts said that another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May was likely. An extension of that length would prevent further escalation and facilitate planning for a potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November. A U.S. Treasury spokesperson declined comment on a South China Morning Post report quoting unnamed sources as saying the two sides would refrain from introducing new tariffs or other steps that could escalate the trade war for another 90 days. Trump's administration is poised to impose new sectoral tariffs that will impact China within weeks, including on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, ship-to-shore cranes and other products. "We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how that goes," Trump told reporters on Sunday before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck their tariff deal. DEEPER ISSUES Previous U.S.-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing U.S. and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China and Nvidia's H20 AI chips and other goods halted by the United States. So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. They include U.S. complaints that China's state-led, export-driven model is flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing's complaints that U.S. national security export controls on tech goods seek to stunt Chinese growth. "Geneva and London were really just about trying to get the relationship back on track so that they could, at some point, actually negotiate about the issues which animate the disagreement between the countries in the first place," said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "I'd be surprised if there is an early harvest on some of these things but an extension of the ceasefire for another 90 days seems to be the most likely outcome," Kennedy said. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already flagged a deadline extension and has said he wants China to rebalance its economy away from exports to more domestic consumption -- a decades-long goal for U.S. policymakers. Analysts say the U.S.-China negotiations are far more complex than those with other Asian countries and will require more time. China's grip on the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military hardware to car windshield wiper motors, has proved to be an effective leverage point on U.S. industries. TRUMP-XI MEETING? In the background of the talks is speculation about a possible meeting between Trump and Xi in late October. Trump has said he will decide soon on a landmark trip to China, and a new flare-up of tariffs and export controls would likely derail planning. Sun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy in Beijing, said that a Trump-Xi summit would be an opportunity for the U.S. to lower the 20% tariffs on Chinese goods related to fentanyl. In exchange, he said the Chinese side could make good on its 2020 pledge to increase purchases of U.S. farm products and other goods. "The future prospect of the heads of state summit is very beneficial to the negotiations because everyone wants to reach an agreement or pave the way in advance," Sun said. Still, China will likely request a reduction of multi-layered U.S. tariffs totaling 55% on most goods and further easing of U.S. high-tech export controls, analysts said. Beijing has argued that such purchases would help reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, which reached $295.5 billion in 2024.
CNA
21-07-2025
- Business
- CNA
US Treasury chief says China talks could cover Iran, Russia oil buys
WASHINGTON: The next round of US-China talks could include Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday (Jul 21), a move that would shift the focus of trade negotiations into national security issues. US President Donald Trump has imposed fresh tariffs on allies and competitors alike this year, and Washington and Beijing in April rapidly hiked duties on each other's goods in a tit-for-tat escalation. But after high-level talks in Geneva and London, the world's two biggest economies temporarily lowered tariff levels until mid-August while discussions continued. "I think trade is in a good place," Bessent told CNBC in an interview. "And I think now we can start talking about other things." "The Chinese unfortunately, are very large purchasers of sanctioned Iranian oil, sanctioned Russian oil. So we could start discussing that," he said. China's position as the main buyer of Iranian oil has served as a key lifeline for Tehran as its economy is battered by international sanctions. The world's second biggest economy is also a key purchaser of Russian energy. Bessent on Monday threatened US action against those who buy Russian oil, pointing to a strategy in which "any country who buys sanctioned Russian oil is going to be subject to up to 100 per cent secondary tariffs". This suggests that Washington might impose heavy duties on countries it finds to be buying such Russian energy exports. "I would urge our European allies, who have talked a big game, to follow us if we implement these secondary tariffs," Bessent said.
