Customs duties: Chinese and Americans meet for a second day of negotiations in Sweden

AFP journalists saw the American and Chinese delegations, led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng respectively, enter the venue for the talks under gray skies: the Rosenbad building, which houses the Swedish Prime Minister's office.

No information has been released on the content of the discussions, which have been taking place in the Swedish capital since Monday.

Beijing said it hoped they would be held in a spirit of "mutual respect and reciprocity."

China aims to "reduce misunderstandings, strengthen cooperation and promote stable, healthy and sustainable development of Sino-US relations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press conference in Beijing on Monday.

The talks in Stockholm aim to extend the 90-day pause negotiated in May in Geneva, which ended retaliation on both sides of the Pacific that led to prohibitive surcharges.

Imminent deadline

This allowed customs duties on American and Chinese products to be reduced from 125% and 145% respectively to a more modest level of 10% and 30%, which are added to the existing ones on a number of products, before Donald Trump's return to the White House at the end of January.

The talks in Sweden come at the start of a critical week for President Donald Trump's trade policy, with tariffs on most of the United States' major trading partners set to rise sharply on August 1.

Faced with this imminent deadline, several countries are rushing to conclude an agreement with Washington .

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a customs agreement in Scotland that will see European products exported to the United States subject to a 15% tariff.

In Paris, while it is conceded that this agreement will bring "stability" to businesses, there is particular emphasis on its "unbalanced" nature, according to the terms used by several members of the government.