Officials from the United States and China began their meeting in Madrid on Sunday for their fourth round of talks aiming to extend a truce in President Trump’s trade war.
The trade war rocked the global economy earlier this year, but relations have stabilized after a series of temporary truces. The latest pause on U.S. tariffs placed on imports from China is scheduled to expire in November, and officials from both countries are under pressure to prevent relations from backsliding.
Mr. Trump’s tariffs have added pressure on inflation, which remains elevated. The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates this week, a move intended to encourage economic growth that can also boost inflation. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, are leading the negotiations on behalf of the United States, and He Lifeng, the vice premier for economic policy, is leading the talks for China.
The talks are focusing on “national security, economic and trade issues of mutual interest, including TikTok and cooperating on money-laundering networks that threaten both the United States and China,” a statement from the Treasury Department said. China’s state media agency, Xinhua, said the two sides would discuss economic and trade issues including “the U.S. unilateral tariff measures, the abuse of export controls and TikTok.”
Mr. Trump has until Wednesday to enforce or delay a law requiring TikTok to be separated from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or face a ban in the United States.
The president has already delayed enforcing the law three times. Congress passed the bipartisan legislation last year to ban TikTok in the country unless it found a non-Chinese owner because of concerns that the social media app’s ties to China made it a national security threat to the United States.
The talks are expected to continue into Monday or Tuesday. Mr. Bessent plans to join Mr. Trump for a state visit in London on Wednesday.
Officials from countries around the world have been working to reach trade deals with the United States since April, when Mr. Trump imposed “reciprocal” tariffs on virtually all of America’s trading partners.
Talks with China have been more complicated. Mr. Trump imposed 145 percent tariffs on Chinese imports in April, essentially halting trade, before lowering that levy to 30 percent. China put 10 percent tariffs on American products.
On Saturday, China announced that it was opening an investigation into exports of certain microchips that are made in the United States. The day before, the U.S. Commerce Department said it was adding Chinese chip companies to a trade blacklist. The moves are expected to put additional pressure on the talks.
The world’s two largest economies have been discussing further tariff reductions and the status of China’s restrictions on shipments of rare earth minerals and magnets critical to U.S. manufacturers. The Trump administration is also concerned that China has stopped buying American agricultural products, threatening the livelihood of soybean farmers.
Mr. Bessent has criticized China’s excess industrial capacity, describing its economy as unbalanced, and urged his Chinese counterparts to curb purchases of oil from Russia and Iran.
Mr. Trump and Xi Jinping, China’s leader, could meet next month at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea. Mr. Trump has also suggested that he may visit China at some point at Mr. Xi’s invitation.
The latest round of talks is taking place shortly after Mr. Xi gathered leaders of more than 20 countries in China last month in a show of Beijing’s efforts to reshape a global order without the United States at the center. Mr. Trump’s hardball tactics in trade negotiations have created a rift with allies like India, which has been the target of Mr. Trump’s heavy import tariffs, creating an opportunity for China to push for a closer relationship.
China is relying on increased trade with other countries to offset a sharp decline in exports to the United States. China’s exports to the United States have dropped about 15 percent this year, but trade to Southeast Asia, Africa and other regions is booming. China is on pace to surpass last year’s record nearly $1 trillion trade surplus in 2025.
Despite the robust trade figures, there are signs that China’s domestic economy is feeling the pinch from the ongoing trade war. The Chinese government is discouraging companies from further investments in industries already suffering from overcapacity to prevent cutthroat price competition and ease concerns from trading partners that the deluge of inexpensive Chinese-made exports will decimate local manufacturing.
Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed reporting from Seoul and Sapna Maheshwari from New York.
Alan Rappeport is an economic policy reporter for The Times, based in Washington. He covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal matters.
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