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Chinese and American trade negotiators concluded their two-day meeting in Stockholm without a resolution to avert tariffs from skyrocketing back to ultra-high levels that formed an effective blockade on trade between the world’s two largest economies. But Trump’s trade advisers and their Chinese counterparts sounded a hopeful note.
Without an agreement, the United States and China are set to once again place historic tariffs on each other’s imports starting August 12.
However, speaking to reporters from Stockholm, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and United States Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer said the two-day meeting was “constructive,” and suggested that a deal to extend the tariff pause was likely.
“Just to tamp down that rhetoric, the meetings were very productive,” Bessent said. “We just haven’t been given that signoff.”
They said that no decision had been made yet about whether to extend the pause on each country’s extraordinary tariffs, because President Donald Trump needs to make that decision.
“With respect to a potential pause, we’re going to head back to Washington, DC, we’re going to talk to the president, about whether that’s something that he wants to do,” Greer said. “It’s certainly something that’s under discussion.”
Trump, speaking with reporters Tuesday, also added a hopeful note.
“I just had a phone call from Scott [Bessent], and he had a very good meeting with China,” Trump said. “And it seems that they are going to brief me tomorrow, and we’ll either approve it or not, but he felt very good about the meeting – better than he felt yesterday.”
“Today, it worked out,” Trump added. He also said he plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping by the end of this year.
Li Chenggang, the International Trade Representative for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, told reporters Tuesday that, even after the conclusion of the talks, “both sides will continue to push for the scheduled extension,” according to CCTV, a Chinese state media outlet.
Bessent disputed any notion that Li’s comments should be taken to mean that an extension was agreed upon just yet.
“The Chinese deputy minister did say that we had agreed on a pause. We have not. Nothing is agreed until we speak with President Trump,” Bessent said, answering a question about whether there was an agreement to extend the August 12 deadline. Greer added, “The president has discretion to change the rate depending on the circumstances that we have.”
In May, China agreed to lower tariffs on American goods from 125% to 10%, while the US agreed to lower tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%.
Greer said that tariffs on Chinese goods shipped to the US could jump by around an additional 34% if a deal is not agreed on by August 12 – below the 145% peak level.
But Bessent cautioned that just because the meeting ended without a deal, that didn’t mean that a deal would not be reached before the August 12 deadline.
This story has been updated with additional developments and context.
CNN’s Fred He contributed to this report.
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