A sensitive negotiation between our delegation and China has the potential to disrupt the global economy, ended in prolonged negotiations and will resume on Sunday, an official told the Associated Press. Hours after the negotiations ended, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media about the reset of trade between the two countries.
“Today, a very good meeting with China was held in Switzerland. A lot of things were discussed, and very agreeable. The total reset was carried out in a friendly but constructive way,” Trump wrote. “We hope to see that China opens up to American business for the sake of China and the United States. Great progress has been made!!!”
The meeting lasted 10 hours and featured a delegation led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. Officials who spoke to the AP asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of negotiations, which could help stabilize the U.S.-China impasse swept the world market. Negotiations were already secretly shrouded, and none of them commented to reporters when they went out.
Several convoys of black vehicles left the Swiss ambassador’s residence in Geneva, where residents in Geneva chaired talks aimed at eliminating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the negotiations had occurred.
Saturday’s talks were held in the rich 18th-century “Villa Saladin” overlooking Lake Geneva. According to the Geneva government, the former estate was bequeathed to Switzerland in 1973. The prospect of a major breakthrough appears dim. But hopefully the two countries can reduce their massive tax tariffs on each other’s goods, a move that will mitigate the world’s financial markets and companies that rely on both sides of the U.S.-China trade.
Trump last month brought U.S. tariffs on China to 145%, which has attacked U.S. imports by levying 125%. The high tariffs are basically equivalent to the two countries’ boycott of each other’s products, destroying more than $660 billion in trade last year.
Even before the negotiations began, Trump suggested on Friday that the U.S. could lower tariffs on China and said in a truth society post: “The 80% tariff seems to be right! Until Scott.
“The best situation is that both parties agree to downgrade the tariffs at the same time,” she said. “It can’t be a word.”
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has actively used tariffs as his favorite economic weapon. For example, he imposes a 10% tax on imports from almost every country in the world.
But the battle with China is the most intense. His tariffs on China include 20% charges aimed at putting pressure on Beijing to prevent the entry of synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States. The remaining 125% involves a dispute that goes back to Trump’s first term and imposed tariffs on China at the time, meaning that the total tariffs on certain Chinese goods could be more than 145%.
In Trump’s first semester, the United States claimed that China adopted unfair strategies to give itself an advantage in advanced technologies such as quantum computing and driverless cars. These include forcing us and other foreign companies to hand over trade secrets in exchange for opportunities to enter the Chinese market; using government funds to subsidize domestic technology companies; and completely stealing sensitive technology.
These problems have never been completely resolved. After nearly two years of negotiations, the United States and China reached a so-called Phase I agreement in January 2020. Tough issues such as China’s subsidies are left to be negotiated in the future.
But China has not passed the promised purchase, partly because global trade after the Covid-19 announcement of the first phase of the armistice has undermined global trade. Now, the struggle for China’s technological policy is now recovering. Trump was also excited by a huge trade deficit with China, reaching $263 billion last year. Trump shoots huge tariffs in Switzerland
Best and Greer also met with Swiss President Carlin Keller Sett on Friday in Switzerland. Trump suspended plans to charge 31% of Swiss goods last month, which exceeded his 20% tax on EU exports. Currently, he lowers these taxes to 10%, but can raise the tax again.
The Bern government is taking a cautious approach. But it warns of key impacts on key industries in Switzerland, such as watches, coffee capsules, cheese and chocolate. “The increase in trade tensions is not in Switzerland’s interest. Countermeasures against U.S. tariffs will need to cost the Swiss economy, especially by making U.S. imports more expensive,” the government said last week, adding that the administration “is not therefore planning to impose any objections at the moment.”
The government said an additional 10% tariff was imposed on the amount of Swiss exports to the United States on Saturday, with an additional 21% starting.
