Tariffs: US and China report significant progress in trade talks
The Americans and Chinese spoke with one voice after two days of closed-door talks in Geneva on the thorny issue of customs duties, with both sides reporting significant progress in their negotiations. "Substantial progress" for the former, "significant progress" for the latter: the two largest economic powers, engaged in a trade standoff since Donald Trump imposed prohibitive customs duties, will issue a joint statement on the issue on Monday.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the talks had made "substantial progress" in a brief statement to reporters after a two-day meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. He Lifeng followed suit a few hours later, telling reporters that the talks had made "significant progress" after two days of talks that he described as frank, thorough, and substantive.
Beijing and Washington have agreed to establish a "consultation mechanism" on trade, He Lifeng said. Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Li Chenggang said the mechanism would allow for "regular and irregular exchanges on trade issues." The trade differences between the two countries, although inflamed by a tariff war, "are not as great as one might have imagined," Jamieson Greer, the U.S. Trade Representative, added to reporters in Switzerland.
"Reset""These discussions mark a significant step forward and, we hope, bode well for the future," said World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, adding: "This progress is important not only for the United States and China, but also for the rest of the world, especially the most vulnerable economies."
The negotiations took place behind closed doors in the residence of the Swiss representative to the United Nations, a luxurious villa nestled on the left bank of Lake Geneva.
On Saturday evening, commenting on the remote discussions, the American president seemed to want to start from scratch, after having imposed ever-increasing customs duties on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese products imported into the United States. Beijing responded tit for tat. "A reset was negotiated in a friendly but constructive manner," Mr. Trump wrote on the Truth Social network, adding in capital letters and with a lot of exclamation points: "Great progress has been made!"
The meeting was the first face-to-face meeting between senior officials from the world's two largest economies since Trump last month imposed a 145% tariff on goods from China, on top of existing tariffs. Beijing, which has vowed to fight the tariffs "to the bitter end," retaliated with 125% tariffs on American goods.
On Friday, Donald Trump made a gesture by suggesting he lower the tariffs he himself imposed on Beijing to 80%. But his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt was quick to point out that Washington would not lower its taxes unilaterally and that China would also have to make concessions.
Beijing announced on Friday an 8.1% jump in its exports in April, a figure four times higher than analysts' forecasts. But exports to the United States fell by nearly 18%.
The World with AFP
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