WASHINGTON – Top U.S. officials are set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend in Switzerland in the first major talks between the two nations since President Donald Trump sparked a trade war with stiff tariffs on imports.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their counterparts in Geneva in the most-senior known conversations between the two countries in months, the Trump administration announced Tuesday. It comes amid growing U.S. market worry over the impact of the tariffs on the prices and supply of consumer goods.
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No country has been hit harder by Trump’s trade war than China, the world’s biggest exporter and second largest economy. When Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2, China retaliated with tariffs of its own, a move that Trump viewed as demonstrating a lack of respect. The tariffs on each other’s goods have been mounting since then, with the U.S. tariffs against China now at 145% and China tariffs on the U.S. at 125%.
American firms have already begun canceling orders from China, postponing expansion plans and hunkering down as a result of the tariff war.
After plans for the talks had been announced, Bessent said on Fox News' “The Ingraham Angle” that as the U.S. has engaged in negotiations with various trading partners, “China has been the missing piece.”
The current situation, he said, “isn’t sustainable ... especially on the Chinese side.” He added that current high tariff levels were “the equivalent of an embargo. We don’t want to decouple. What we want is fair trade.”
Trump had claimed previously that the U.S. and China were holding negotiations on lowering tariffs, which Beijing has denied, saying Trump must first lower his stiff tariffs.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry on Tuesday confirmed the meeting between its vice premier and Bessent in Switzerland.
“The Chinese side carefully evaluated the information from the U.S. side and decided to agree to have contact with the U.S. side after fully considering global expectations, Chinese interests and calls from U.S. businesses and consumers,” said a ministry spokesperson.
The spokesperson said China would not "sacrifice its principles or global equity or justice in seeking any agreement.”
Most economists have said the cost of the tariffs would get passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices for autos, groceries, housing and other goods. And the higher prices are already becoming a burden on U.S. consumers, who are in the biggest economic funk since the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, economists say the risk of a recession is growing.
Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade official and now vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said the upcoming meeting is a welcome development.
“As the first face to face meeting between senior U.S. and Chinese officials since Trump’s inauguration, it’s an important opportunity to have initial talks on unwinding some tariffs, mapping out a path forward, as well as raising concerns,” Cutler said. “We should not expect any quick victories — this will be a process that will take time.”
In Switzerland, Bessent and Greer also plan to meet with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, according to readouts from their respective offices.
Both Greer and Bessent had talked with their counterparts before the beginning of the trade war.
Greer told Fox News Channel last month that he spoke with his Chinese counterpart for over an hour before the trade war started. “I thought it was constructive,” he said, adding: “This is not a plan just to encircle China. It’s a plan to fix the American economy, to have a greater share of manufacturing as GDP, to have real wages go up, to be producing things instead of having an economy that’s financed by the government.”
And Bessent in February spoke with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng “to exchange views on the bilateral economic relationship,” according to a Treasury news release.
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Associated Press writer Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.