Trade War: USA want to extend the deadline for negotiations with China

In the customs dispute with China, the United States wants to talk about an extension of the deadline. “I will be with my Chinese counterparts in Stockholm on Monday and Tuesday and work on what will most likely be an extension,” said US finance minister Scott Bessent in an interview with the US broadcaster Fox Business Network. The deadline actually expires on August 12th – the tariffs should be reduced for 90 days to enable conversations between the two nations.

In the meantime, US President Donald Trump had increased punitive tariffs on imports from China to the USA in several steps to 145 percent. Beijing, in turn, had reacted with counter -tariffs of 125 percent and introduced export controls for industrially important rare earths and magnets made on them.

At the same time, Bessent confirmed the previous period of August 1 in the customs conflict with other countries. Then the United States wants to raise tariffs of different heights against imports from other countries. The deadline was “quite fixed,” said Bessent. When asked whether this also applies to the EU, he said that the deadline applies to all countries.

The EU Commission has long been negotiating with Washington in the customs dispute. Trump had announced tariffs of 30 percent on the import of EU products from August 1st. In the event that the United States introduces the new customs rate, the EU wants to react with counter -tariffs, among other things.