U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Geneva in first sign of thaw in trade war : NPR

Transport containers are seen prepared for transport on the Guangzhou Port within the Nansha district in southern China’s Guangdong province in April 2025.

Ng Han Guan/AP

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Ng Han Guan/AP

HONG KONG — U.S. and Chinese language officers have introduced they’ll meet in Switzerland later this week, signaling a attainable détente within the escalating commerce battle between the worldwide superpowers.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer will meet Beijing’s lead financial consultant, He Lifeng, probably paving the best way for broader commerce talks.

In an appearance on Fox News, Bessent stated the present tariffs aren’t sustainable and are “the equal of an embargo.

“We do not wish to decouple. What we wish is honest commerce,” he stated.

The U.S. and China have been locked in a tit-for-tat commerce battle, with either side imposing hefty, triple-digit tariffs on one another’s items, making commerce between the world’s two largest economies close to unattainable.

Buyers and international policymakers will probably be searching for any indicators of an off-ramp, as the continued commerce battle threatens a worldwide recession.

China and the U.S. “want to maneuver on,” stated Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for the Asia Pacific at French financial institution Natixis. “I feel each events are eager to barter.”

President Trump positioned what he referred to as reciprocal tariffs on China and plenty of different international locations in early April. When China retaliated with related duties on U.S. items, Trump responded with even increased tariffs. In the intervening time, Chinese language items into the U.S. face tariffs of 145%, and U.S. items into China are topic to 125% tariffs.

In latest weeks, the U.S. and China have been engaged in a geopolitical blinking contest, ready for the opposite facet to achieve out. Trump stated in an interview with Time that he wouldn’t name Chinese language President Xi Jinping, and added that Xi has in truth referred to as him. Chinese language officers refuted that declare, and later stated that the U.S. has made multiple overtures in search of commerce negotiations.

The talks in Switzerland are the primary concrete signal of a possible thaw within the impasse.

For the negotiations to yield substantial outcomes, the U.S. should undertake “a correct perspective,” political commentator Ming Jinwei stated in an editorial printed on Guancha, a Chinese language information web site which frequently displays views aligned with Chinese language state pursuits.

Ming added that Treasury Secretary Bessent must reassess his understanding of China’s energy.

“He has repeatedly claimed that China wants the U.S., however the U.S. doesn’t want China. This notion is each incorrect and smug,” he wrote.

With either side already feeling the effects of the trade war, Garcia-Herrero predicts a commerce deal will probably be struck shortly, with the U.S. eradicating the steep reciprocal tariffs however retaining 20% duties on Chinese language items.

“The deal will probably be introduced as a minor factor as a result of they’ve satisfied their constituencies that the opposite facet is evil,” Garcia-Herrero stated. “So they can not actually change that mantra now.”

A spokesperson for China’s commerce ministry stated on Wednesday that China’s door stays “open for negotiation” however that it’s going to not “sacrifice its rules” for simply any settlement.

NPR’s Aowen Cao contributed to this report.