U.S. and Chinese officials meet in Madrid to discuss trade, TikTok divestment, and tariffs over Russian oil

U.S. and Chinese officials met in Madrid on Sunday to deal with three major fights: trade tensions, the deadline to force TikTok out of U.S. hands, and Washington’s campaign to punish China over oil purchases from Russia.

The closed-door session took place at Spain’s Palacio de Santa Cruz, with both delegations arriving early that morning. Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Jamieson Greer, U.S. Trade Representative, showed up minutes before China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and Li Chenggang, the country’s top trade negotiator.

According to U.S. officials briefed by the Treasury Department, this was the fourth meeting in four months between both teams. The last one was in Stockholm in July, where they agreed to a 90-day trade pause that temporarily stopped some tariffs and resumed rare-earth exports from China to the U.S, as Cryptopolitan reported.

That pause is still in effect. President Donald Trump has now extended the current 55% tariffs on Chinese goods until November 10.

Trade experts say no one is expecting any breakthrough in Madrid. This round of talks is happening mainly to stop the situation from getting worse. Spain, meanwhile, is using the meeting to show it can host high-stakes diplomacy. Madrid wants to become a central stage for other global disputes, including the Israel-Palestine conflict.

TikTok deadline extension likely again

ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, has until September 17 to sell its U.S. operations or face a ban. The U.S. government had already given three extensions. It looks like they’ll hand out a fourth one. A senior official close to the White House said, “a deal is not expected, but the deadline will be extended.”

TikTok wasn’t even part of earlier trade discussions in Geneva, London, or Stockholm, but now it’s officially listed on the Treasury’s meeting agenda.

The decision to include TikTok gives the Trump administration a reason to delay enforcement while showing action. This political balancing act isn’t going over well in Congress, where both parties had voted to force a sale for national security reasons.

Trump, who just opened his own TikTok account last month, has not commented directly on the timing. Wendy Cutler, former deputy U.S. Trade Representative and current head of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said the administration may be saving any real decisions on TikTok for a bigger moment.

“I expect major deliverables to be held until a possible Trump-Xi meeting later this year, maybe during APEC in Seoul,” she said. Cutler also pointed out that if any agreement happens, it might also involve easing soybean restrictions, dropping fentanyl-related tariffs, and addressing U.S. export controls.

But Cutler warned that the deeper U.S. demands on China, like forcing Beijing to change its economy to rely more on domestic spending instead of subsidized exports, could drag on for years. “Unless there’s some breakthrough on its demands to China, I don’t see the U.S. giving up any leverage,” she added.

Washington presses G7 to target China’s Russian oil deals

Scott used the Madrid talks to pressure America’s G7 allies to slap tariffs on Chinese and Indian goods over their continued oil imports from Russia. He had already urged the group on Friday to act fast.

In a joint statement with Greer, Scott said, “Only with a unified effort that cuts off the revenues funding Putin’s war machine at the source will we be able to apply sufficient economic pressure to end the senseless killing.”

The U.S. already slapped an extra 25% tariff on Indian goods, but hasn’t done the same to China, yet. The G7 finance ministers, also meeting this week, discussed this demand and agreed to speed up discussions about using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defense.

The Madrid meeting also included talks about illicit tech shipments. The U.S. wants China to stop selling certain goods to Russia that are allegedly helping the war effort in Ukraine. The Treasury has labeled this a key issue, referring to it as “combating money laundering,” though the core focus is enforcement and tech surveillance.

China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed that it would respond to U.S. complaints and bring up its own: the ongoing tariffs, the expanding export bans, and the growing list of tech restrictions. Beijing is also expected to push back on Washington’s aggressive use of economic tools to restrict competitors.

None of these positions has changed in recent meetings. José Manuel Albares, Spain’s Foreign Minister, welcomed the delegations personally before the session. A senior Spanish government official said Madrid sees the meeting as proof that Spain is now viewed as a serious location for high-level diplomacy.

“Spain is pushing to host a major peace summit on the Israel-Palestine war,” the official said. Spain is also using the event to fix its own tension with the Trump administration. Madrid has refused to meet NATO’s defense spending target and has been openly critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The country also annoyed Scott back in April by calling Beijing a strategic partner, right as Trump was tightening his tariff campaign. Scott responded at the time, saying, “That’s like cutting your own throat.”

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