- A potential extension of a tariff pause between the United States and China will not be final until President Donald Trump signs off on the plan, U.S. negotiators said.
- Trump “has final say on all the trade deals” and the pending tariff truce, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC’s Eamon Javers.
- Top trade officials for the two countries have concluded talks in Stockholm, Sweden, their third round of high-level discussions since May.
- Bessent said that if an extension is not reached by the deadline, then U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will shoot back up to their April levels.
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U.S. negotiators stated Tuesday that they will not agree to a possible extension of the tariff freeze between the United States and China until President Donald Trump approves the plan.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC’s Eamon Javers that Trump “has final say on all the trade deals” including the impending tariff truce.
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The comments followed the conclusion of the third round of high-level negotiations between the two nations since May by top trade officials in Stockholm, Sweden.
“We’ll be returning to Washington, D.C. After the discussions, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters, “We’re going to talk to the president about whether that’s something that he wants to do.”
At about the same time, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he would receive an update on the negotiations’ progress on Wednesday.
“Scott Bessent just called me on the phone. It appears that they will brief me tomorrow after their excellent meeting with China,” Trump stated.
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“We’ll either accept it or reject it. However, he reported feeling much better about the meeting than he had yesterday.
The two sides agreed to keep pushing for a 90-day halt on most of the U.S. “reciprocal” tariffs on Chinese exports and most of Beijing’s punitive actions, according to Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang earlier.
As of right now, that pause will end on August 12.
Bessent told reporters after Tuesday’s talks that if an extension is not reached by the deadline, then U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will shoot back up to their April levels.
“We call it boomeranging,” Bessent introduced the term.
The trade teams will probably get together again in ninety days, he said.
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Trump announced a 34% blanket duty on Chinese imports on April 2 as part of his global tariff launch, which he called “liberation day.”
In addition to the 20% tariffs Trump had already slapped on fentanyl, he announced a week later that he would raise the China taxes to 125%. China responded by imposing high tariffs of its own on American imports.
Following their first trade meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, in May, the parties decided to halt the majority of the tariffs.
Bessent provided a favorable, but ambiguous, evaluation of the most recent discussions. He claimed that the two sides’ stances are becoming more “refined” and implied that their conversations have increased respect and understanding between them.
However, he stated that despite Trump’s approval of Beijing’s purchase of Iranian oil last month, the United States is not happy with China’s continued purchases.
Bessent added that TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media app whose future in the United States has been uncertain since a law was passed that will ban it until it is sold, was not discussed by the negotiators.
“We are very careful to keep trade and national security separate,” stated the president.
Trump’s efforts to swiftly restructure America’s international trade agreements are moving in different directions from the trade negotiations between the United States and China, the two biggest trading nations in the world.
On CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated that Trump’s tariff rates for dozens of countries, which had been paused several times, will resume on Friday.
When questioned by CNBC’s Javers about the impending tariff deadline, Bessent said that the impacted nations can still engage in negotiations with the United States, therefore it shouldn’t be a big deal.
“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 trying to negotiate in good faith,” he stated.
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