China called on Saturday as an “important step” the first commercial conversations with the United States since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s tariff war, which take place this weekend in Geneva, Switzerland. On the American side, the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, and US commercial representative Jamieson Greer participate.
China is represented by Chinese vice-master-master, he Lifeng. “The contact established in Switzerland is an important step in promoting the resolution of the problem,” said a comment published by the Official News Agency Xinhua, without giving details about the progress of negotiations. The US delegation also made no comments.
In the United Nations in Geneva and should continue tomorrow, 11. Yesterday, US President Donald Trump suggested reducing rates on Chinese products to 80%.
“The president would like to solve the problem with China. As he said, he would like to neutralize the situation,” said Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick yesterday at Fox News.
The reduction announced by Trump remains symbolic because, at this level,. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has transformed tariffs into a political weapon and initially announced 145% tariffs over China, adding to those in force.
Beijing promised to fight “until the end” and responded with 125% rates on American products. As a result, bilateral trade between the two largest economies in the world has stagnated and markets are in turbulence.
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Discussions in Geneva are “a positive and constructive step towards reducing climbing,” said the director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
In mid-April, Okonjo-Iweala said he was “very concerned” and estimated that even if trade between China and the US “represents only about 3% of world goods trade, a dissociation” of the two main economies “could have considerable consequences.”
Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter associated Pope Leo XIV’s election with negotiations. “The Holy Spirit was in Rome. We must wait for him to come to Geneva over the weekend,” she said yesterday.
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Chinese vice-prime minister, He Lifeng, attended negotiations with the good news that China exports increased 8.1% in April, a four-time number than expected by analysts. At the same time, exports to the United States fell almost 18%. Nevertheless, White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that Trump “will not unilaterally reduce tariffs on China” and called for “concessions.”
According to Bonnie Glaser, director of Think Tank German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific Program, “a possible result of the discussions in Switzerland would be an agreement to suspend the majority, if not all, the tariffs imposed this year while bilateral negotiations last.”
Lizzi Lee, an Asia Society Policy Institute specialist, expects a “symbolic and temporary gesture,” which could “relieve tensions, but not solve fundamental divergences.”
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Xu Bin, professor at China Europe International Business School (Ceibs) in Shanghai, fears that tariffs do not return to a “reasonable level”. “Even if they fall,” he notes, ‘it will probably be half and, once again, will be too high for normal trade.’
