On Friday, the United States added 32 entities, 23 of them in China, to a commerce department restricted trade list. They included two Chinese firms accused of acquiring US chipmaking equipment for China’s top chipmaker SMIC.
The upcoming US-China talks in Spain will be the fourth major in-person meeting this year as the two countries seek to maintain a trade truce that reduced retaliatory tariffs on both sides and restored the flow of Chinese rare earth minerals to the United States.
After meetings in Geneva and London, the two sides largely agreed in late July in Stockholm to extend a tariff pause for another 90 days. President Donald Trump approved the extension on Aug 12 until Nov 10.
ByteDance’s short video app TikTok, which faces a potential ban in the US unless it moves to US ownership, will be on the agenda in the talks in Spain.
Trump has extended a deadline for TikTok to divest its US assets until Sep 17. US lawmakers have said TikTok’s US user data could fall into the hands of China’s government.
“The Chinese government attaches great importance to data privacy and security and has never and will never require companies or individuals to collect or provide data located in foreign countries for the Chinese government in violation of local laws,” China’s official People’s Daily said in an article on Saturday.
If the United States insists on undermining the legitimate interests of Chinese companies, China will take necessary measures to safeguard national interests and the rights of Chinese companies, the Chinese newspaper wrote.
