Senior U.S. and Chinese economic officials opened a third round of trade negotiations in Stockholm on 28 July, aiming to extend a fragile tariff truce that is due to expire on 12 August. The talks are led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and follow earlier meetings in Geneva and London this year. Both sides are widely expected to agree to another 90-day extension of the stand-still that has kept tariff rates well below the triple-digit levels imposed during the spring escalation. Since a May pause, Washington has been charging about 30 percent on most Chinese imports, while Beijing levies roughly 10 percent on U.S. goods; failure to extend the agreement would see duties rebound to 145 percent and 125 percent respectively, a move trade analysts warn could rattle global supply chains. Negotiators are also revisiting deeper disputes over Chinese industrial overcapacity, U.S. export controls on advanced chips, Beijing’s dominance of rare-earth magnets, and tariffs linked to fentanyl precursor chemicals. Progress could pave the way for a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping as early as late October, according to officials familiar with the planning. The Stockholm session comes a day after Washington struck a separate accord with the European Union that fixes a 15 percent tariff on EU exports to the United States and secures pledges for significant European purchases of U.S. energy and defense equipment. No similarly comprehensive breakthrough is expected this week, but both delegations have signalled that maintaining the current cease-fire is a minimum objective to prevent another spiral of tit-for-tat duties.