Delegations from the US and China were scheduled to extend their discussions in Madrid into a second day on Monday regarding trade tensions and an approaching deadline for China to divest from the short-video app TikTok.
The most recent negotiations – the fourth in four months – occurred at the baroque Palacio de Santa Cruz, home to Spain’s foreign ministry, and wrapped up its first day on Sunday after nearly six hours with no signs of progress.
Discussions focused on TikTok, tariffs, and the economy, a US government representative stated, providing no additional information.
Teams headed by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng have been convening in European cities since May to address the disputes that led President Donald Trump to increase tariffs on Chinese imports, resulting in retaliatory actions such as China imposing equivalent high import taxes on US products and stopping the export of rare earths to the US.
The delegations previously convened in Stockholm in July, where they consented to prolong a trade truce by 90 days that significantly lowered three-digit retaliatory tariffs on each side and resumed China’s rare-earth exports to the United States.
Specialists had minimal hopes for a major advancement in Madrid, viewing the most probable outcome as an additional extension of the deadline for TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its US operations by September 17 or encounter a US shutdown.
“I don’t foresee any meaningful progress between the US and China until there is a direct meeting between Trump and Xi.” “Establishing that is essentially the focus of these discussions,” stated William Reinsch, a senior trade advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington.
Trump has frequently shown interest in a meeting with Xi, but Reinsch stated that the Chinese will not consent to a Trump-Xi meeting until they are aware of the result and are advocating for additional relaxation of US export restrictions on chips and other advanced technologies.
“This gathering allows us to assess one another’s stances and gain insights into each party’s limits,” Reinsch stated.
China’s embassy in Madrid informed journalists about a possible final news briefing on Monday afternoon, suggesting that the discussions might come to a swift conclusion. Previous discussions on more complex matters, like the talks in London regarding rare earths shipments, lasted for a third day.
Bessent was set to be in London on Tuesday for a meeting with British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves before Trump’s state visit with King Charles that begins on Wednesday.
