Trump Praises ‘Positive Relationship’ With China Amid Ongoing Tariff Negotiations
US President Donald Trump stated that ties between Washington and Beijing remain strong and expressed hope that China will open its markets to global trade.
Speaking to the press in Scotland alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Trump said, “We maintain a positive relationship with China. Everyone’s playing tough, of course, but we’ll see how things go… I’d love to see China open its economy… We just wrapped up a deal with Japan — it was beneficial for all parties. We’re securing excellent agreements.”
Trump’s comments came shortly after senior American and Chinese officials met in Stockholm on Monday to restart dialogue on resolving key trade tensions at the core of their economic dispute — a standoff that has escalated into a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
This latest discussion round seeks to extend the current ceasefire in tariff hikes for another three months. The 90-day pause in tariff increases, during which both countries agreed to temporarily ease trade restrictions, is due to expire on August 12.
The meetings in Sweden were led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. They followed Trump’s announcement of a preliminary tariffs arrangement with the European Union just hours earlier.
Last week, Bessent stated that talks with Beijing were progressing well and hinted that the upcoming round could result in an extension of the temporary trade truce.
According to a South China Morning Post report on Monday, both nations are expected to push the truce forward by another three months.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times revealed that the US has paused certain technology export controls aimed at China in an effort to prevent further disruption to negotiations and to increase the chances of a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.
In May 2025, President Trump had explained his motivations for seeking a trade deal with Beijing, pointing out that China continues to maintain a large trade surplus with the US — a situation he believes is unfavorable for America. “China, as you know, runs a massive trade surplus with us, and we simply can’t allow that to continue,” Trump was quoted by The Telegraph.
Without a renewed agreement, global trade flows could be disrupted once again by US tariffs returning to triple-digit percentages — effectively triggering a trade blockade between the two powers.
Earlier trade negotiations between the US and China in Geneva and London during May and June focused on lowering retaliatory tariffs from extreme levels and restarting the supply of restricted items such as rare earth minerals from China and Nvidia’s H20 AI chips from the US.
“Geneva and London were primarily about stabilizing the relationship to pave the way for meaningful talks on the core issues driving the conflict,” said Scott Kennedy, a China economic policy analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, as told to Reuters.
