US and China hail ‘progress’ after trade talks end in Geneva
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US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaking to the media after the talks.
PHOTO: AFP
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GENEVA - The US and China on May 11 said progress had been made after a weekend of talks aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff roll-out.
The increasingly ugly trade spat between Washington and Beijing has rocked financial markets and raised fears of a global economic slowdown
“We’ve made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters in Geneva after the second day of discussions had concluded.
“The talks were productive,” he said, taking no questions but promising a “complete briefing” on May 12 on the outcome of the talks.
In a statement on May 11, which did not provide any additional details, the White House hailed what it called a new “trade deal” with China.
China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng told reporters that the meetings had achieved “substantial progress”, echoing Mr Bessent’s remarks, and described the atmosphere as “candid, in-depth and constructive”.
“This is an important first step,” Mr He said, adding there were plans for a joint communique to be published May 12.
The two sides have agreed to set up a joint mechanism focused on “regular and irregular communications related to trade and commercial issues”, China’s international trade representative Li Chenggang said at the same briefing.
Asked if the communique would arrive before financial markets opened, Mr Li replied: “If the dishes are delicious, timing is not a matter.
“Whenever released, it is going to be big, good news.”
The meetings marked the first time that senior officials from the world’s two-largest economies have met face to face to tackle the topic of trade
The tariffs imposed by Mr Trump on the Asian manufacturing giant since the start of the year currently total 145 per cent, with cumulative US duties on some Chinese goods reaching a staggering 245 per cent.
In retaliation, China put 125 per cent tariffs on US goods.
“These discussions mark a significant step forward and, we hope, bode well for the future,” World Trade Organisation chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement, shortly after her own meeting with Mr He.
“Amid current global tensions, this progress is important not only for the US and China, but also for the rest of the world, including the most vulnerable economies,” she added.
Devil in the details
“It’s definitely encouraging,” Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) vice-president Wendy Cutler told AFP after the talks had concluded.
“The two sides spent over 15 hours in discussions,” she said. “That’s a long time for two countries to be meeting, and I view that as positive.”
Ahead of the meetings at the discrete villa residence of Switzerland’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Mr Trump signalled he might lower the tariffs, suggesting on social media that an “ 80 per cent tariff on China seems right!
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that the US would not lower tariffs unilaterally. China would also need to make concessions, she said.
The fact that the talks are even happening “is good news for business, and for the financial markets”, Dr Gary Hufbauer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said in an interview while the talks were ongoing.
But Dr Hufbauer cautioned he was “very sceptical that there will be any return to something like normal US-China trade relations”. Even a tariff rate of 70 per cent to 80 per cent would still potentially halve bilateral trade, he said.
Ms Cutler from ASPI said: “The devil will be in the details. And so, without the details, it’s hard to assess whether the meeting was successful or not.”
China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng at a bilateral meeting with Swiss officials in Geneva, on May 9.
PHOTO: AFP
‘Great progress!!’
Vice-Premier He went into the discussions buoyed by May 9’s news that China’s exports rose in April despite the trade war.
The unexpected development was attributed by experts to a re-routing of trade to South-east Asia to mitigate US tariffs.
The Geneva meeting comes after Mr Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain
The five-page, non-binding deal confirmed to nervous investors that Washington is willing to negotiate sector-specific relief from recent duties. But Mr Trump maintained a 10 per cent baseline levy on most British goods.
In a Truth Social post on May 10, Mr Trump said the talks had made “GREAT PROGRESS!!
“We want to see, for the good of both China and the US, an opening up of China to American business.” AFP
