- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng in Madrid from September 12–18 to discuss trade, TikTok, and financial security.
- Talks aim to uphold a trade truce while addressing disputes over tariffs, agriculture, and illicit financial flows.
- The US has set a September 17 deadline for TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations or face a potential ban.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to meet with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and other senior Chinese officials in Madrid next week to discuss trade, economic, and security concerns.
The talks, set for September 12–18 during Bessent’s trip through Spain and Britain, will also cover issues such as the status of TikTok, money laundering, and efforts to curb illicit financial flows.
This meeting will be the fourth major in-person engagement between top US and Chinese economic leaders this year. Both sides are working to maintain a trade truce that paused retaliatory tariffs and restored China’s exports of rare earth minerals to the United States.
Despite the truce—recently extended for another 90 days and approved by President Trump in August—serious disagreements remain. The US continues to impose tariffs of around 55% on certain Chinese imports, with some measures linked to concerns about fentanyl.
Agriculture remains a contentious issue. A 2020 agreement under the Trump administration required China to buy significant amounts of U.S. farm produce, but critics argue that China has failed to meet those commitments, redirecting purchases to South America instead.
On TikTok, the US government has set a deadline of September 17 for parent company ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations or face a possible ban. Cooperation on anti–money laundering measures is also expected to be a key agenda point in Madrid, particularly in light of concerns about illicit finance and military technology transfers to Russia amid the war in Ukraine
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