US-China Briefing on the Stockholm Talks

China’s official press release:

US-China Economic and Trade Talks Held in Stockholm

On July 28-29, 2025, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, leading the Chinese delegation, held economic and trade talks in Stockholm, Sweden, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Greer, who led the U.S. side. The discussions took place at a venue in Stockholm, as captured by Xinhua News Agency photographer Dai Tianfang.

During the talks, both sides engaged in candid, in-depth, and constructive exchanges on U.S.-China economic and trade relations, macroeconomic policies, and other shared trade concerns. They reviewed and affirmed the consensus reached at the previous Geneva talks and the implementation of the London framework. Based on the talks’ outcomes, both sides agreed to continue pushing forward the extension of the suspension of the U.S.’s 24% reciprocal tariffs and China’s countermeasures for an additional 90 days as planned.

He Lifeng emphasized that the economic and trade teams of both nations should follow the important consensus reached during the June 5, 2025, call between the two countries’ leaders, adhering to principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation. He stressed that China’s stance on U.S.-China trade relations has been consistent: the essence of these relations is mutual benefit, with both sides sharing broad common interests and vast potential for cooperation. Cooperation benefits both, while confrontation harms both. A stable, healthy, and sustainable trade relationship not only supports each country’s development goals but also promotes global economic growth and stability. Moving forward, both sides should continue to leverage the important consensus from the leaders’ call, utilize the U.S.-China trade consultation mechanism, build consensus, reduce misunderstandings, enhance cooperation, deepen dialogue, and strive for more win-win outcomes.

The U.S. side stated that a stable U.S.-China trade relationship is vital for both countries and the global economy. They expressed willingness to work with China to address trade disputes through the consultation mechanism, push for more negotiation outcomes, and further stabilize bilateral trade relations.

Li Chenggang’s statement on the talks:

Li Chenggang told reporters on July 29, 2025, after the Stockholm talks: "Over the past day and a half, the economic and trade teams from China and the US had deep, honest, and constructive discussions on major issues that both sides care about, building on the consensus from the June 5 leaders’ call and continuing to make good use of the US-China trade consultation mechanism."

He also said, "Based on the agreement, both sides will keep pushing to extend the suspension of the US’s 24% reciprocal tariffs and China’s countermeasures as planned. Both teams will stay in close touch, keep talking about trade issues, and work to promote stable and healthy bilateral trade relations."

He added, "This meeting not only solidified the joint statement from the Geneva talks but also marked an important step in implementing the strategic consensus from the leaders’ call. Since we’ve reached an agreement, both sides should stick to it. We hope the US will work with us to follow through on the leaders’ consensus, use the consultation mechanism to build agreement, clear up misunderstandings, and boost cooperation."

Press conference by Bessent and Greer:

Bessent

We had a very fulsome two days with the Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Heli Feng. It was our third meeting. I'm happy to say that London built on Geneva. Stockholm built on London and Geneva. I think we had great momentum going into the meeting thanks to the president. Trade deals, I think that the Chinese were surprised by the magnitude of the Japan deal, by the magnitude and the terms of the European deal. So I think that they were, they're never compliant, but I believe that they were, and more of a mood for a wide ranging discussion. The discussion centered on the two emies. We had a very in depth report on them.

On the US emy, we talked about the trade deals that we were doing with other countries. We expressed our concern about Chinese over capacity globally and what that might mean for this year, for the next few years. We expressed our concern for their purchases of Iranian or sanction Iranian oil, which say by about 90%. We also expressed our regret that we believe that they had sold Russia about 15 billion of dual use technologies. But the overall tone of the meetings was very constructive. And I will pass it over to Ambassador Greer. Thank you.

Greer

We also reiterated the premise of the presidents trade program and trade policy, which is to reduce US deficits, increase manufacturing and reshore our emy. We made sure that they understood that that is, these are the goals of what the president's trying to do. And again, we expressed, you know, our satisfaction that many of our major trading partners have come along with this. President Vonderlyn on Turnbury on Sunday when I was there, she specifically mentioned that the US EU deal is about rebalancing and trying to rectify the giant user plus with us. And so we've been happy to be working so constructively with many of our partners, and we had that kind of discussion with the Chinese as well. And of course, we were here it, you know, in the first purpose to confirm the implementation of what was agreed in London in terms of accelerating the flow of rare magnets from China to US companies. And then we're able to discuss further how to make sure that the entire US supply chain, including those that go through third countries, could be accelerated. Thank you.

Bessent Yeah, and I would say on a personal level, we develop great respect. Ambassador Greer news knows several of their team from the first administration. And again, I think it was the level of momentum and the entire reordering that President Trump has done of the global trading system. So now here you have the two largest emies in negotiation. And as I've said before and we reiterated to them, we don't want to decouple. We just need to derisk with certain strategic industries, whether it's the rarer semiconductors, medicines. And you know, we talked about what we could do together to get into balance within the relationships. Ambassador Greer has made the fantastic point that for decades, the US trading system sacrifice manufacturing for to be able to sell whether it was AG or natural resources. And now under President Trump, as you've seen with the Japan deal, with the Europe deal, we are able to do both. We are able to reshore manufacturing and also do substantial purchase agreements of US AG and energy.

Reporter

Just, we had Li Chenggang, speaking to reporters shortly after the end of the talks today, and he mentioned an extension of the pause. Can you give us some details on that, how long that's gonna go on for and how will it work? And if I could just throw them at another one, what do you say to lawmakers and the United States and others who are concerned that concessions on export control on items like chips for AI will jeopardize US national security entry.

Bessent

Well, I'll take the national security question and then Jamison could talk about the pause. We are very diligent in terms of the national security. Things go through the inner agency, the, at the White House, whether I, it's Treasury, it's NSC, it's commerce, it's DOD, so that there's nothing that's being exchanged for anything. I think you might be referring to the Nvidia H 20s, which are well down their technology chip stack, right?

Greer

I would say with respect, well, I should also say the only export controls we talked about today were Chinese export controls on rare earth. US export controls were not something we discussed with respect to a potential pause. You, we're gonna head back to Washington, DC we're gonna talk to the president about whether that's something that he wants to do. It's certainly something that's been under discussion. And so we'll brief the president on the outcome of this and we'll see if there are any, you know, we have further technical discussions that are happening right now as we speak among the teams. And so the president can make a final call on whether that's something that he wants to do.

Bessent Not on our side.

Reporter Secretary Bessent, you just said again that the biggest problem in the relationship is China's overcapacity capacity and that you want them to move towards a new consumption based emy. What's your specific plan for addressing those emic imbalances besides purchases of US goods? And then do you want me to go to Jameson now? Sorry, ambassador. Okay. And then obviously, the Section 2,32 investigations that the president is set to unveil in the coming weeks on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors would theoretically hit China after your, as well as everyone else in the world. What, after your talks today, will those tariffs be imposed on the Chinese? Or may, did you make any commitments to pause them or not target the Chinese specifically with those actions? And then what would you say is the biggest concessions that the Chinese have had to make in these talks so far.

Bessent

Oh, well, I'll just repeat that China is the most unbalanced and balanced a emy in modern times. And I think we're going either 30% of global manufacturing. They have a 2%. Current account surplus of global GDP, which we've never seen before, probably not since the 1870s with the British Empire. And you know that's not sustainable. So the tariff levels will have quite a bit to do with that. And I think the other thing that we're seeing is. That President Trump was very early on talking about the the China problem. The US experienced the China shock of when China came into the WTO in the early 2. And, but Europe, a lot of the European business model, it was a quite a business model is predicated on cheap Russian energy, a depressed exchange rate because of the southern European countries dragging down the euro and then selling goods into China. And now that China has, and jujitsu, the model and under the cover of covid, rather than increasing their consumer, they up their export capacity and they did it quite a bit up the value chain. So you know, we'll see over time. But you know, my guess is that over time that the other emies, developed emies, will start increasing their tariff barriers. And, you know, the global south, there's, they just can't absorb all this Chinese production.

Greer

I would say also when you ask about, you know, what tools can be used to deal with this, I mean, this is part of the reason why the president implemented his tariff program right now. If you look at the numbers, we're still tracking an annual trade deficit with China. But if you extrapolate it out from the numbers we have so far, it looks like it's gonna be at least $50 billion smaller this year. So that's some progress already. With respect to the Section 2,3,2, this came up during discussions. The Chinese asked us about it, you know, what's the plan, what's the timing? We shared what information we could, you know, you, you from President Trump talk about this publicly, which includes, you know, discussion of, you know, having a situation where you start with a lower tariff, but then you go to a higher tariff at some point to try to, you know, bring back manufacturing of pharmaceuticals or semiconductors. These are global actions. They don't target the Chinese. They don't target any particular country. They'll be applied globally. There aren't any exceptions or exemptions for particular countries.

Reporter

And what's the biggest concession they've made? Greer That the Chinese have made? Well, that I would say they blocked all of their rare earth magnets and now we're getting them.

Reporter

Thank you both for being here. I'm just wondering if we can get some clarity on the tariff level that is threatened to happen on April 12th. I know the April 2nd tariffs were 34%. You add that to the fentanyl 54%. That's where the tariffs are for many goods right now. So what is the overall threat to the Chinese in terms of a tariff level that could happen if there is no extension?

Bessent

Well, I think you've seen, I've used the word boomerang. So if we boomer rang back to the April 2nd level, if they would go to 34. I notice, as the earlier question said that 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. He's on Air Force One, I believe, doing a press conference right now. And we will be seeing him in the Oval tomorrow to go over the deal with him and then he'll decide. If the pause continues as is. And.

Greer

Just to be clear, Kevin, the president has discretion to change the rate depending on the circumstances that we have, etc. So snap back, right would be 34% of course, has discretion lots and modify that.

Reporter

Yeah, my question is just the 34% is under the tariff level that's current for many goods. So would that be additive to what we have already? Would it be on top of? Okay, yes. So we're talking about the threat is that tariffs kind of in like the 80,85%.

Greer

Level? Yeah, depending on the product. Yeah, depending on the product.

Bessent

Okay. But just kind of to tamp down there, the to tamp down that rhetoric, the meetings were very constructive. We, we're just that we, we, I haven't given the sign off.

Reporter

Melissa Eddie from The New York Times, can you, sorry. Melissa Eddie from the New York Times. Can you tell us, please, did you discuss a potential summit between the Chinese and US president, the Chinese president and President Trump? And can you give us any timeline on what you're thinking about in terms of that?

Bessent

No. The only thing we discussed was there was a recent phone call between the two leaders. On that call, all President Xi invited President Trump to Beijing, but we didn't discussed that at all. What we discussed was implementing the desire of the two leaders for the. Trade team and the Treasury team to have trade negotiations with our Chinese counterparts. So our meetings were just to implement the will the leaders not to discuss if there would be a meeting.

Reporter

Can you just give a time? When was that call? Do you have it up in?

Greer

I think that was the June.

Bessent

4th or 5th. Thank you.

Reporter

I believe you discuss a range of topics with your China counterpart in these two days. But compared to Geneva and London, do you think, is there any questions or issues are becoming tough and toughest to negotiate and as used to mention that the US is trying to convince China not to bucket bind oil gas from Russia. Iran will be the kind of new conditioner for the future round of the talk between US and China. And also I want to know, since we, US government has to push the tariff globally to say, push the tariff to a very higher pick since 1930 as some newspaper said. But as, so both of you, do you think it's will be concerned by the US people about the potential inflation pressure and also the local emy. It will, will it, do you believe, will it be smallest slow down the, slow the emy for the US?

Bessent

There's a lot to impact there. So I'll work backwards. I was a professor of emic history at Yale. And I can tell you it's my belief that as many people have a misunderstanding that the downturn in the 1930s was caused by an increase in tariffs. It wasn't the stock market crashed in 1929. There was also a very large tax increase in the US we just did the largest tax cut in history. The US emy is starting to fire on all cylinders right now. We actually in may, saw the biggest downturn in inflation in four years. So the US emy is doing quite well. And I will tell you. Rather than the talks getting more difficult, I actually think that they are getting more engaged. As we, there was a very, in Geneva, very narrow issue with the maggots and London, and they spread, the talks went to a wider aperture. And here we're able to discuss more and more things. You know, the this report that we gave each other on the emies, on the outlook. So I would say it's just the opposite. You know, the purpose of meeting frequently is to have personal relationships and have understandings and show respect and mutual cooperation. I think, Jamison, Ambassador Greer has been dealing with the Chinese much longer than I have. Greer Yes. I have no other comments, though.

Reporter

Hi. Thanks, secretary. Question about Russian oil. As you know, the president has threatened possible tariffs on countries that continue to buy Russian oil. Hundred percent. China is the largest purchaser of that commodity. What was your message to the Chinese about Russian oil? Did you.

Bessent

Tell them they're on notice, they need to start to pull back? Well, we described, it's not just the president. It what is making its way through the US synod. And, you know, it's hard to imagine anything could get 80 or 90 bipartisan votes in the US Senate is a Bill that will give the president discretion to apply secondary tariffs on sanction Russian oil from, I believe it's from zero to 500%. I believe he's used 100%. And we've all, we've heard from several of our European counterparts, NATO allies, even Canada or Canada is at NATO, that they will be following on that. So we would expect most of the western alliance that has been supporting Ukraine to follow on that. So I think anyone who buys sanction Russian oil should be ready for this. What was their response to that warning? The, the Chinese take their sovereignty very seriously. We don't wanna impede on their sovereignty. So I'd like to pay 100% tariff type.

Reporter

When you come back and speak to Donald Trump about this tariff pause, how prolonged will it be if it goes the way that China just told us right before you came here.

Bessent

I think typically we talked about 90 days more.

Bessent interviewed by CNBC

Bessent

Good to be here in Stockholm.

Reporter

Take us behind the scenes, if you could, covering these things as we reporters travel around the world following you guys. It's sort of a black box. We don't know what happens inside that room. We occasionally get the handout picture. How do how are these talks actually structure? What happens inside the room? Do you have sort of bullet points from both sides at each side agrees to bring up in advance. Does each side make a speech to each other? Bring us in the room.

Bessent

Well, there's a lot of pre games, so there a lot of preparation on both sides in terms of what do we wanna talk about, what would we like to accomplish.

Bessent

With the Chinese. There were 75 of them in their delegation, 15 of us. We started out in a very large room, probably 12 or 15 on each side of the table. As you said, there tends to be a bit of a speech reading. So well, there's a little back and forth on that. Then there's a discussion. We have various topics, but the real work it's done. We break down into smaller groups, two and two. So Ambassador Jamison, myself was Vice Premier Hu Li Feng. And then they actually had to a deputy trade minister, the, and a deputy finance minister, and then the translators and then vice premier Fang and I spent some time alone with the translators.

Reporter

And you go into breakout rooms to discuss among just the American side, what the Chinese are proposed and then come back? Or is it all done and in the same room together?

Bessent

Well, Ambassador Greer and I have been doing a lot of trade deals and we've done a lot of prep in advance. This was our third meeting with this Chinese team, so we built up some level personal report. We also, and I can tell you that London built on Geneva, Stockholm built on London and Geneva. So it, we have an arc that is getting better. We've been able to, this meeting, we were able to discuss more the big emic frameworks, whereas Geneva and London were much more specific meetings. And the.

Reporter

Market really expected that what we would see here is an extension of that August 12th deadline. That was sort of a low bar for these talks. People thought if they can kick the can another 90 days and keep the truth in place, that happened back in London. That's basically a win for Stockholm. Did you agree to kick that can down the road or is that pending President Trump's.

Bessent

Approval? It's pending President Trump's approval. He has final say on all the trade deals. I spoke to him right before I came in with you. I'm gonna see with ambassador career tomorrow and he'll have the final decision. I think our Chinese counterparts to jump the gun a little and said that we do have an extension. I can say that the meetings were very far reaching for reaching, robust and highly satisfactory.

Reporter

And what will you recommend to President Trump, if you can share it with us? Will you recommend that he extend that possible?

Bessent

Well, we're just gonna give him the facts and then he'll decide.

Reporter

What can he tell us was agreed to in the room, if anything? Any specific agreements on any of those agenda items that you set up in the pre game as you call it.

Bessent

Well, we continually are perfecting their rare earth control system. It was a news system that was put in globally on April 4th, and it's been a bit clunky. So, you know, we keep pushing them to work on that. And, you know, it's the entire global supply chain because the restrictions or the controls aren't just on the US, it's on every country.

Bessent

So we discussed that. We made some very good progress on that. We had very long discussion, in depth discussions and reports on each other's emies. You know, we push them. They have what they call the five year plan coming up, I believe the meeting is in September, October, and will be discussed in February. And we discuss or Ambassador Jamison and I encourage them to work on rebalancing the emy towards more of a consumer emy, away from a manufacturing emy. And if they have decided that is in their five year plan to make that public.

Reporter

The other big piece of speculation going into this was, would this tee up a Xi Jinping Donald Trump meeting sometime in the fall, maybe October? You've said now that there's no discussion of that in these talks. So where do we stand on the idea of a possible, you know, world leaders meeting? Got.

Bessent

It was June 5th, June 4th, June 5th, President did a. A call with party chair. She invited him to come to Beijing. So, you know, that will be something between the White House and she's staff.

Reporter

What else was discussed in the room? One of the items was Chinese purchases of Iranian oil. What did they say to your request to stop making those purchases?

Bessent

The, you know, they said their sovereignation and that they have security needs, energy needs, and that it would be based on their internal policies.

Reporter

And so you don't have any leverage at this point to push them on that, are.

Bessent

You? Well, not at this point. We have a treasury. We have sanction what are called teapot refineries. They are private refineries, not state owned. And so we have sanctioned those refineries, the owners. And you know, some of those owners may have assets in the US.

Reporter

The other big question coming into this was how much would the EU deal having been signed on Sunday influence what happened in the room in Stockholm this week? Did you get a sense whether that made any difference in terms of the trajectory of the talks here.

Bessent

I think that everyone can see the arc of where these trade deals are going. I won't say that the Chinese were on their heels because they're very composed by vice premier, who we found is a seasoned politician. But it's clear that the momentum was with us, that when you get the EU, the world largest trading block, when you get that deal inked. We had Japan, we had Indonesia, we had Vietnam. So not only did we have the EU, it was a very large trading relationship with China. We also had three of their neighbors.

Reporter

You said something interesting and with a small group of reporters earlier today, which was that the Chinese goods, if the US is gonna tear off Chinese goods, those goods have to go somewhere. And you think they're flowing to Europe, Canada and Australia. Do you think Europe needs to put up a tariff wall of its own? Do you think they need to be tariffing Chinese.

Bessent

Goods? I wouldn't be surprised. I, I. If they don't put on some kind of tariffs at a point. But this is where the opportunity is for the Chinese to be proactive and they create a bigger consumer emy and sell more of those goods at home. Because, you know, those goods can't just flow to the global.

Reporter

South. You said that's your goal for the Chinese emy. It's not entirely clear that's the Chinese government's goal for the Chinese. I mean, to what degree do you get the sense that they embrace that argument at all?

Bessent

You know, again, we'll see. It may take some external forces. I remember I, but think I went to Japan first time in 1990. Maybe the bubble burst in 1991. They didn't fix the banking problem till 2004. Then Abby Namics wasn't until 2,012. And that was really an external stimulus. A lot of that was from the China threat. So, you know, it may take some external stimulus or an external for the catalyst to get the Chinese to change it. It may be more tariffs.

Reporter

One of the big questions about that EU deal from the weekend is this 600 billion piece for additional purchases from the United States. But EU officials have come out since the deal was agreed to and said, well, that's coming from private sector companies. We don't really have any control over that, so we can enforce it on our end. Does the US have any guarantee that 600 billion is real and is actually gonna happen?

Bessent

Well, I think that's going to be closely monitored. I think President Trump believes that this is a good deal. I mean, on paper, there's a deal of the century, and I would be surprised over time if the EU doesn't hold up there under the bargain or there are, the 15% tariff rate could change.

Reporter

What do you think those purchases will be? I mean, that could impact, you know, Hu hugely, some American.

Bessent

Companies. Well, it could be purchases. You know, problem now is Europe is rearming. NATO is finally upping its defense spending. We have a very large backlog with our defense companies. So you know, I would imagine a big portion of that could be for defense, that they're going to be some ag purchases and then they'll also be building, you know, increased investment and European companies putting plants in the US.

Reporter

These deals have been coming pretty fast and furious. At times, it gets hard to track the details of them. The Vietnam deal that the president announced earlier in July, I don't think we've seen confirmation, at least I haven't as I sit here now. From the Vietnamese government of that deal? Did we get confirmation from the Vietnamese government? Do we have an agreement with them on paper?

Bessent

I didn't work on that deal, but I assume that we do because, yeah, we've also done in Indonesia and Philippines. So I would imagine that, but.

Reporter

You haven't seen that.

Bessent

Paperwork. I, I, but I don't. That's Ambassador Greer, who is a seasoned veteran and with an encyclopedic memory and knowledge of all this, keeps all that.

Reporter

How do you divide it in the room between yourself and Ambassador Greer as you are negotiating with the Chinese, do you have a lane? Does he have a lane?

Bessent

I think, you know, I try to keep things moving along in a big picture way and think about what are our goals. Ambassador Greer, again, like I said, he not only has an encyclopedic knowledge, he has dealt with the Chinese in President Trump's first term. He knows, you know, all the particulars on tariffs, on trade. You know, he walks around. It's a great, it's probably two times, three times bigger than the old New York City phone book. But it's the non tariff trade barriers of all the country. So you can put that down on the table. So, okay, let's go through them.

Reporter

Right? Friday, we've got another big deadline coming up, which is August 1st for snapback tariffs on all the other countries that have not agreed to a deal so far. What can you tell American businesses to expect on Friday?

Bessent

Well, I would think that it's not the end of the world if these snapback tariffs are on for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks as long as the countries are moving forward and, you know, trying to negotiate in good faith.

Reporter

One of the other big questions around this has been which of these other sideline issues are really part of this trade deal and which are not. TikTok has been one that we talked about. You said that wasn't discussed today.

Reporter

The other question is that the Financial Times reported that the president of Taiwan was declined permission to transit New York, which is something that the Chinese would have wanted from the US government. Was that done to help smooth the deal with the Chinese?

Bessent

And I wanna go back for sure on is the August 1st is important I think for President Trump. The, for me, what's given us a lot of negotiating leverage is he's happy to do the deal, but he's equally happy sometimes in more cases, in some cases more happy just to have the tariff income. So you know, it gives us a lot of negotiating flexibility. So TikTok wasn't discussed and we're very careful to keep trade and national security separate. So the Taiwanese president's movement had nothing to do with our talks.

Reporter

Mr Secretary, we're almost out of time. Being told we have just one minute left. So with that, give us a sense of what you expect next in this US China relationship. Are we gonna see another meeting in 90 days? What city will we be in 90 days from now?

Bessent

Look, I don't know where we're gonna be. The good news is we're talking. Cuz initially, oh, China was on April 2nd, tariff day. We advised all the countries, don't retaliate. And that would be your peak number and you can work down from there. China was the only country to retaliate. We went into this tip for Tat. We ended up at 1:45. They were at 1:25, which is essentially an embargo. We brought those down in Geneva. And there's a problem with the rare earth magnet that was sold Geneva, London. And the good news is president cheap, President Trump have a very close relationship now. We were able to establish communication lanes at all the various levels, whether it's between ambassador guerre, myself, with the Vice Premier, with the trade delegations, with the deputy finance minister. So, you know, I think more interaction is good interaction. We're not gonna agree. They're tough negotiators. We're tough negotiators.

Reporter

So we'll see where it goes. Mr Secretary, thanks so much for being not seen to see your time. Brian will send it back to you.