USA reports agreement with China at Geneva customs talks
Geneva/Washington. According to the White House, the United States and China have reached an agreement on the tariff dispute during talks in Geneva – thus achieving a potential breakthrough in the deadlocked trade conflict. However, Washington failed to provide details. The Chinese side initially made no comment after the talks ended.
The White House issued a statement headlined "US Announces China Trade Agreement in Geneva." The statement, however, didn't provide any more details than quotes from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at the conclusion of the two-day talks in Switzerland. Greer also spoke of a "deal," while Bessent spoke of "substantial progress." Details were to be announced on Monday.
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After taking office, Trump brought relations with China to a low point with massive tariffs on Chinese products. They currently stand at 145 percent. China responded with 125 percent tariffs on US products. The showdown between the world's two largest economies has repercussions for the entire global economy, with particularly devastating consequences for developing and emerging countries.
Both countries have so far tried to create the impression that they each have the upper hand and don't have to make the first move to reach out to the other side. The talks in Geneva should now mark a turning point.
Finance Minister Bessent and Trade Representative Greer, among others, traveled to Switzerland for the US. Vice Premier He Lifeng represented the Chinese side. "It's important to understand how quickly we were able to reach an agreement, which shows that the differences may not have been as significant as people thought," Greer said after the talks concluded. A lot of preparatory work had also been done. Bessent said: "We will announce details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive."
China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, a mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, wrote in a commentary on Sunday before the end of the talks that if Washington truly wanted to resolve trade disputes through dialogue, it must first address the damage its tariff-driven policies had caused to the global trading system and to its own economy and citizens.
Meanwhile, Beijing is actively courting other trading partners. China's "oversized market" offers more opportunities for products from Latin America and the Caribbean, a senior Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday. At a forum with government representatives of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) next week in Beijing, cooperation on raw materials, food, and infrastructure is expected to be agreed upon, among other things.
RND/dpa
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