Donald Trump praised a “total reset” in US-Chinese trade relations after the first day of talks between senior and Chinese officials in Geneva aimed at defusing a trade war triggered by its tariff deployment.
The American president praised the “very good” discussions and judged them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly but constructive manner”.
“We want to see, for the good of China and the United States, an opening of China for American affairs,” he posted on his social platform Truth early on Sunday, adding: “Great Progress does !!!” He has not developed progress.
Earlier, senior officials in the United States and Chinese ended the first day of talks in the Swiss city to defuse tensions that threaten to hammer the world economy. Negotiations were to continue on Sunday, according to a source close to the discussions.
The Chinese vice-president, he Lifeng, met for about eight hours with the US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, and the US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, during their first face to face since the two largest economies in the world has raised rates much greater than 100% on the products of the other.
Trump prices imposed on China this year currently total 145%, with American cumulative tasks on certain Chinese products reaching 245%. China has slapped 125% reprisal levies on American goods, cementing what seems to be a close commercial embargo between the two countries
None of the parties made any declarations thereafter on the substance of discussions or has reported specific progress towards the reduction of overwhelming prices as meetings at the residence of the Swiss ambassador at the unpleasant around 8 pm (1800 GMT).
Bessent, Greer and he gathered in Geneva after weeks of increasing tensions caused by Trump’s tariff from February and Beijing reprisals which reported nearly $ 600 billion in the annual bilateral trade to a virtual stop. The commercial dispute, combined with Trump’s decision last month to impose tasks on dozens of other countries, disturbed supply chains, unstable financial markets and muffled fears of a net global slowdown.
The location of talks in the Swiss diplomatic center has never been made public. However, witnesses saw the two delegations return after a lunch break at the villa of the United Nations Ambassador in Colagny.
Earlier, American officials, including Bessent and Greer, smiled when they left their hotel on the way to the talks. Bessent refused to speak to journalists. At the same time, Mercedes vans with tinted windows were seen leaving a hotel where the Chinese delegation remained.
Washington seeks to reduce its 295 billion dollar trade deficit with Beijing and persuade China to give up what the United States says it is a mercantilist economic model and contribute more to global consumption. Beijing has rejected what he considers an external interference and wants Washington to lower the prices and clarify what he wants China to buy more.
The official Xinhua news agency of China said in a comment on Saturday that “the reckless abuse of the United States” had destabilized the world economic order, but added that the negotiations represented “a positive and necessary step to resolve disagreements and avoid additional escalation”.
Economic analysts have low expectations of a breakthrough. Trump said on Friday that a price of 80% on Chinese products “seems fair”, suggesting for the first time a specific alternative to 145% samples which he imposed on Chinese imports.
He suggested that the discussions were launched by China. Beijing said the United States had asked for discussions and that China’s policy to oppose American prices had not changed.
On Friday, the American secretary of trade, Howard Lutnick, told Fox News: “The president would like to work with China. He would like to defuse the situation.”
Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the United States would not unilaterally drop prices and that China would need to make concessions.
On Friday, the Swiss Minister of the Economy, Guy Parmelin, met the two parties in Geneva and said that the fact that the talks had taken place was already a success.
“If a roadmap can emerge and decide to continue the discussions, this will reduce tensions,” he told journalists on Friday, saying that talks could continue on Sunday or even on Monday.
