The shipping containers are seen ready for transport at the port of Guangzhou in the Nansha district, in the south of Guangdong province in China in April 2025.
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Hong Kong – US and Chinese officials announced that they would meet in Switzerland later this week, reporting a possible relaxation in the climbing of the trade war between world superpowers.
The Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, will meet the main economic representative of Beijing, Il Lifeng, potentially opening the way to broader trade negotiations.
In a Appearance on Fox NewsBessent said the current prices are not durable and are “the equivalent of an embargo.
“We don’t want to decouple. What we want is a fair trade,” he said.
The United States and China have been locked in a Tit-For-Tat trade war, the two parties imposing high prices and three figures on the products of the other, trade between the two largest economies in the almost impossible world.
Global investors and decision -makers will look for signs of a ramp out of ramp because the current trade war threatens a global recession.
China and the United States “need to move on,” said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist of Asia-Pacific to the French Bank Natixis. “I think the two parties want to negotiate.”
President Trump has placed what he called reciprocal prices on China and in many other countries in early April. When China retaliated with similar tasks on American goods, Trump responded with even higher prices. For the moment, Chinese products in the American face 145% pricesand American goods in China are subject to 125% prices.
In recent weeks, the United States and China have participated in a geopolitical flashing competition, waiting for the other side to hand. Trump said in a Interview over time That he would not call Chinese President Xi Jinping, and added that Xi actually called him. Chinese officials refuted this statement, and later said that the United States had made several openings Search for commercial negotiations.
Translections in Switzerland are the first concrete sign of a potential thaw in the impasse.
In order for negotiations to give substantial results, the United States must adopt “an appropriate attitude,” said political commentator Ming Jinwei in an editorial published on Guancha, a Chinese information site which often reflects the perspectives aligned with the interests of Chinese states.
Ming added that the secretary of the Treasury Bessent must reassess his understanding of the force of China.
“He said on several occasions that China needed the United States, but the United States does not need China. This perception is both incorrect and arrogant,” he wrote.
With both sides already Feel the effects of The trade warGarcia-Herrero predicts that a trade agreement will be concluded rapidly, the United States by removing steep reciprocal rates but keeping 20% of tasks on Chinese products.
“The agreement will be announced as a minor thing because they convinced their constituencies that the other side is bad,” said Garcia-Herrero. “So they can’t really change this mantra now.”
A spokesperson for the Chinese trade ministry said on Wednesday that the Porte de la China remains “open to negotiations” but that it would not “sacrifice its principles” for any agreement.
Aowen CAO of NPR contributed to this report.
