MOSCOW, Sept 15 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) — The United States is close to reaching an agreement with China on the TikTok social network, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, reported Sputnik/RIA Novosti.
“On the TikTok deal itself we are very close or we have resolved the issue,” Bessent told journalists in Madrid ahead of the second day of negotiations.
Regarding the trade agreement, Bessent said that the US and China have reached a “very good progress on the technical details of the agreement”. But at the same time, the Chinese side made a “very aggressive request”, he said, adding that “we will see if we can get there”.
The China-US talks take place from September 14-17 in Spain and discuss trade, tariffs and the TikTok platform.
In June, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to extend the deadline for the TikTok closing for another 90 days or until September 17. Last year, the US Congress passed a Bill establishing a deadline for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest its shares by January 19. However, Trump has since extended that deadline several times.
China and the US are effectively in a trade war, which erupted after Trump imposed a 10 per cent tariff on all Chinese imports in February. In March, the tariff was raised to 20 per cent. After several reciprocal steps, the US tariff on Chinese goods reached 145 per cent, while the tariff on US suppliers in China reached 125 per cent. The two countries then agreed to reduce their respective tariffs to 10 per cent for 90 days, starting May 14. Thus, China has imposed a 10 per cent tariff on US imports, while the United States has levied a 30 per cent tariff on Chinese products, maintaining the 20 per cent “fentanyl” duty.
— BERNAMA-SPUTNIK/RIA NOVOSTI
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