Madrid (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the US and China are close to striking a deal on the social media video app TikTok, as trade talks resumed in Madrid to ease tension between the two nations, Reuters reported.
Discussions are underway at the Baroque Palacio de Santa Cruz, which houses Spain’s foreign ministry, for the fourth time in four months. The talks, which began on Sunday, lasted around six hours but ended without any signs of a breakthrough.
According to Bessent, both sides have made good progress on technical details, but securing a deal on other issues will be tough.
“It’s still very good at the highest levels,”
Bessent told reporters alongside U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
“Ambassador Greer and myself have great respect for all counterparts.”
What progress has been made on the tiktok negotiations?
Even if a deal over Chinese divestment from TikTok isn’t reached, it won’t affect relations, he said.
“Our Chinese counterparts have come with a very aggressive ask,”
He added.
“We will see if we can get there at present. We are not willing to sacrifice national security for a social media app.”
Discussions had focused on TikTok, tariffs and the economy, according to a U.S. government official, who provided no additional information.
Extending the deadline for the TikTok divestment would largely depend on how Monday’s talks went, Bessent said. Greer stated that although the TikTok issue had been resolved, it may still depend on striking deals on other matters.
“From the Chinese perspective, they view as part and parcel of the potential TikTok deal a variety of matters, whether it’s tariffs or other measures that have been taken over the years,”
Greer said.
However, the United States was not in a position to simply abolish every measure it had ever taken to try to resolve the issue, he added.
“We still have to grind through negotiations and discussions of the common understanding, and I don’t think this is the moment to just pull all those things.”
Why are the US and China holding talks in Madrid?
Representatives led by Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng have engaged in European cities since May to try to resolve the differences that led President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on Chinese imports and sparked retaliatory measures, including similarly high import duties by China on U.S. goods and a halt in the flow of rare earths to the U.S.
Delegations last met in Stockholm in July, where they agreed to extend for 90 days a trade truce that significantly reduced triple-digit retaliatory tariffs on both sides and restarted rare-earth exports from China to the US.
