U.S. and China to hold trade talks in Switzerland
Senior U.S. officials will meet with Chinese representatives in Switzerland this weekend as Washington seeks to ease trade tensions and explore a potential path toward a broader deal after weeks of escalating tariffs and retaliatory measures.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are both scheduled to meet with their Chinese counterparts on Saturday and Sunday, according to Bessent, who discussed the talks in a recent interview on Fox News.
The meetings will take place in Geneva, where both officials are also scheduled to meet with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and U.S. personnel at the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to press releases issued Tuesday.
The discussions with China come amid a deepening trade rift triggered by a dramatic hike in U.S. tariffs. Last month, President Donald Trump raised tariffs on all Chinese imports to a minimum of 145%. In retaliation, Beijing imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.
“My sense is that this will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal,” Bessent told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “But we’ve got to de-escalate before we can move forward.”
Speaking earlier this week, Bessent described the ongoing tariffs as “unsustainable”, particularly for Beijing. “A 145 percent tariff is the equivalent of an embargo,” he said. “We don’t want to decouple, what we want is fair trade.”
U.S. Trade Representative Greer said that under President Trump’s direction, the administration is working to “rebalance our trade relations to achieve reciprocity, open new markets, and protect America’s economic and national security.” He confirmed he will meet with China’s top trade official while in Geneva.
China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng, the country’s lead negotiator on U.S.-China economic matters, will represent Beijing in the talks, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry reported by NBC News.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
