American and Chinese officials are meeting in Madrid, Spain on Sunday to hold talks over trade issues, national security and the ownership of short video app TikTok.United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is slated to meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng between Sunday and Wednesday, Beijing said.US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will also attend what are the fourth such talks between the senior officials in four months.The series of negotiations are an attempt to keep a strained US-China relationship from crumbling under President Donald Trump’s weighty tariffs.The three senior officials and China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, last met in Stockholm in July where they agreed in principle to extend a trade truce for 90 days.The decision significantly reduced triple-digit retaliatory tariffs on both sides and resumed the flow of rare-earth minerals from China to the US.
China launches probes targeting US semiconductors
Ahead of the Madrid talks, China on Sunday announced two investigations targeting the US semiconductor sector.The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing launched an anti-dumping probe into certain analog IC chips imported from the US.The investigation will target some commodity interface IC chips and gate driver IC Chips using 40-nanometer and above process technologies, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.In a separate announcement, the Chinese commerce ministry also launched an anti-discrimination investigation into US measures against China’s chip sector.China’s probes come after the US on Friday included 23 Chinese firms to an “entity list” of businesses that will face curbs for allegedly acting against US national security and foreign policy interests.Two Chinese companies accused of acquiring chipmaking equipment for Chinese chipmaking giant SMIC are on the US list.The US export curbs and tariffs “constitute the containment and suppression of China’s development of high-tech industries” such as advanced computer chips and artificial intelligence, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement published on X.
What is expected from the US-China talks in Madrid?
Trade pundits have said there is a slim chance of a substantial breakthrough in the talks in Madrid which are being hosted by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, as he seeks to improve relations with China.Reports suggest that the most likely outcome of the parleying could be another extension of a deadline for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance to divest its US operations by September 17 or face a closure in the country.The US Treasury said the talks in Spain would also cover combined efforts from Washington and Beijing to tackle money laundering.The US has been demanding a crackdown from China on illicit shipments of technology goods to Russia that aid its war in Ukraine.
