China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng to Hold U.S. Trade Talks in Sweden

By Ethan Wang and Ryan Woo

BEIJING, July 23 (Reuters) – China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng will visit Sweden from July 27–30 for a new round of economic and trade talks with U.S. officials, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Wednesday.

Both sides will continue consultations based on the principles of “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation,” the ministry said in a statement.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he will meet with Chinese officials in Stockholm to discuss a deadline extension for negotiating a trade deal, while describing trade with China as “in a good place.”

China faces an August 12 deadline to reach a durable deal with the White House or risk higher U.S. tariffs.

Since mid-May, Bessent has met twice with He in Geneva and London, as the two sides work to refine a delicate trade truce that dialled back triple-digit tariffs imposed following rounds of tit-for-tat escalations.

Beijing has been sending conciliatory messages in the lead-up to next week’s Stockholm talks.

On Tuesday, China’s market regulator said it had suspended an antitrust investigation into DuPont China Group, a subsidiary of the U.S. firm DuPont DD.N.

The investigation was launched in April after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped additional 34% tariffs on Chinese products.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said last week that Beijing wants to bring its trade ties with the U.S. back to a stable footing, adding that the recent two rounds of talks in Europe had shown there was no need for a tariff war.

(Reporting by Ethan Wang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Andrew heavens and Kim Coghill)