Top Chinese, US trade officials huddle in Sweden for second day of thorny talks over tariffs

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Chinese and U.S. trade officials were heading into a second day of meetings in the Swedish capital Tuesday to try to break a logjam over tariffs that have skewed the pivotal commercial ties between the world’s two largest economies.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng made no public comments to reporters after the first day of talks that lasted nearly five hours behind closed doors at the Swedish prime minister’s office Monday.

Before the talks resumed Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson met with Bessent and U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer over breakfast.

The United States has struck deals over tariffs with some of its key trading partners — including Britain, Japan and the European Union — since President Donald Trump announced “Liberation Day” tariffs against dozens of countries in April. China remains perhaps the biggest unresolved case.

“The Chinese have been very pragmatic,” Greer said in comments posted on social media by his office late Monday. “Obviously we’ve had a lot of tensions over the years. We have tensions now, but the fact that we are regularly meeting with them to address these issues gives us a good footing for these negotiations.”

“Whether there will be a deal or not, I can’t say,” Greer added in the clip posted on X from MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”. “Whether there’s room for an extension, I can’t say at this point. But the conversations are constructive and they’re going in the right direction.”

Many analysts expect that the Stockholm talks, at a minimum, will result in an extension of current tariff levels that are far lower than the triple-digit percentage rates as the U.S.-China tariff tiff crescendoed in April, sending world markets into a temporary tailspin.

The two sides backed off the brink during bilateral talks in Geneva in May and agreed to a 90-day pause — which is set to end on Aug. 12 — of those sky-high levels. They currently stand at U.S. tariffs of 30% on Chinese goods, and China’s 10% tariff on U.S. products.

Other issues on the agenda include access of American businesses to the Chinese market; Chinese investment in the U.S.; components of fentanyl made in China that reach U.S. consumers; Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil; and American steps to limit exports of Western technology, like chips that help power artificial intelligence systems.

Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator and now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said that Trump’s team would face challenges from “a large and confident partner that is more than willing to retaliate against U.S. interests.”

Rollover of tariff rates “should be the easy part,” she said, warning that Beijing has learned lessons since the first Trump administration and “will not buy into a one-sided deal this time around.”

On Monday, police have cordoned off a security zone along Stockholm’s vast waterfront as rubbernecking tourists and locals sought a glimpse of the top-tier officials through a phalanx of TV news cameras lined up behind metal barriers.

Flagpoles at the prime minister’s office were festooned with the American and Chinese flags.