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5d ago

U.S. and China Confirm Madrid Talks on Trade, TikTok and Security

The meetings arrive days before a Sept. 17 TikTok divestment cutoff, with a Nov. 10 tariff-pause expiry looming.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent attends a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the Oval Office of the White House, amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer gives a live TV interview about tariffs at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 1, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

Overview

  • U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Madrid next week during a Sept. 12–18 trip that also includes stops in London, the Treasury said.
  • China’s Commerce Ministry said the talks will run four days starting Sunday and will address U.S. tariff measures, export controls and the status of TikTok.
  • This will be the fourth major in-person Bessent–He meeting this year, following a late-July decision in Stockholm to extend a 90‑day tariff pause that President Trump approved through Nov. 10.
  • Treasury said the agenda includes cooperation to disrupt money‑laundering networks, with the U.S. retaining but not yet using authority to sanction Chinese banks involved in illicit finance.
  • Analysts say the stepped‑up diplomacy could lay groundwork for a possible Trump–Xi meeting, while Bessent is also set to join Trump’s Sept. 17–19 state visit in Britain.