US, Chinese officials meet in Spain to discuss TikTok, Russian oil trade

China and the United States kicked off the latest round of talks on Sunday in Madrid on their strained trade ties, a looming divestiture deadline for Chinese short video app TikTok and Washington's demands that its allies place tariffs on China over its purchases of Russian oil, Reuters reported

- Agencies

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent and US trade representative Jamieson Greer arrived shortly before Chinese vice premier He Lifeng and China's top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, at the baroque Palacio de Santa Cruz which houses Spain's foreign ministry in the Spanish capital, Reuters said.

The Chinese delegation is in the Spanish capital until Wednesday, AFP reported.

The talks mark the fourth time in four months that the delegations have met in European cities to try to keep a fractured U.S.-China trade relationship from collapsing under President Donald Trump's tariffs. But trade experts said there was little likelihood of a substantial breakthrough in the talks hosted by Spain, which has sought to improve ties with Beijing in recent years.

The most likely result of the Madrid talks is seen as another extension of a deadline for the popular TikTok app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest its US. operations by September 17 or face a U.S. shutdown.