American and Chinese officials have started talks in Switzerland to de-escalate a trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies that has global implications.
There is hope that the countries can scale back the tariffs they have slapped on each other’s goods, which are already having a worldwide knock-on effect.
Craig Singleton, senior fellow at Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), based in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek Beijing dropping its demand that Washington roll back tariffs before talks could start showed the Chinese had blinked first.
Newsweek has contacted the White House and the Chinese Foreign Ministry for comment.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump raised U.S. tariffs on China to a combined 145 percent, prompting the Chinese to retaliate with a 125 percent levy on American imports.
This has in essence led to the two countries boycotting each other’s products. It adds urgency to end the disruption to trade that last year topped $660 billion and on which world financial markets and companies dealing in U.S.-China goods depend.
What To Know
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer have started meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, on Saturday with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.
The Associated Press also said talks had started but that their exact location has not been made public.
Singleton, senior director at the FDD’s China program, told Newsweek it was notable that Beijing had agreed to talks without any U.S. concessions.
Singleton said the Trump administration did not lift tariffs, pause enforcement actions, or even promise a negotiating road map—and yet China agreed to send its top economic czar, He, in acknowledgment that the tariffs are having their intended effect.
Economic pain is forcing China’s leader Xi Jinping to recalibrate, with Beijing cutting key interest rates; releasing $138 billion in liquidity; and ordering banks, insurers, and state firms to prop up struggling sectors.
Authorities have also launched emergency employment initiatives to force private industry, government, and financial institutions to hire as many people as possible.
“These are not the actions of a confident regime,” said Singleton. “They’re the moves of a leadership racing to contain economic fallout before it metastasizes into political risk.”
Since entering the White House, Trump has aggressively used tariffs as his main economic weapon, imposing a 10 percent tax on imports from almost every country.
The president has taken particular aim at China, including a 20 percent charge to pressure Beijing into doing more to stop the flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the U.S.
The remaining 125 percent involves a dispute from Trump’s first term when the U.S. accused China of unfair tactics to get an edge in advanced technologies.
Amid low hope for progress, one positive outcome for financial markets in talks would be an agreement to bring down tariffs from an excess of 100 percent to levels allowing products to flow each way, Reuters reported.
Trump signaled tariffs would likely come down, posting Friday on Truth Social, “80% Tariff on China seems right!” although it is unclear how the Chinese would react to this.
Ryan Hass, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, told Reuters that Beijing is likely to insist on the same 90-day waiver on tariffs that other countries received.
Analysts do not expect this, but a reduction and an agreement for follow-up talks to take in other non-trade issues such as fentanyl, could be considered a positive outcome, Reuters added.
What People Are Saying
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson at Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., said per The New York Times: “If the U.S. genuinely wants a negotiated solution, it should stop making threats and exerting pressure, and engage in talks with China on the basis of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit.”
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B [Bessent].”
Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Newsweek: “After months of insisting that Washington must first roll back tariffs before any talks could begin, China quietly dropped that demand. This reversal is telling—and it affirms that Trump’s pressure campaign is starting to bite.”
What Happens Next
The meetings are scheduled to continue on Sunday and, while the stakes are high, expectations for a breakthrough that would see a meaningful reduction in tariffs remain low; Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, said that the U.S. would not lower tariffs on China, unless Beijing also reduced its levies.
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