US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer plan to visit Switzerland for talks with a Chinese delegation chaired by Vice Premier He Lifeng. About this informs Bloomberg.
These will be the first formal trade talks between the United States and China since Donald Trump announced punitive tariffs of 145% against Beijing, to which China responded with tariffs of 125%. Scott Bessent noted that the current tariff rates are not sustainable in the long term and are actually approaching an embargo.
The talks, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, will be aimed primarily at reducing tensions rather than reaching a major trade deal.
“We have to de-escalate the situation before we move on. We don’t want to break economic ties, we want fair trade.”, – noted Bessent.
The reduction in manufacturing activity in China in April indicates that the break in trade relations with the US is also disadvantageous for Beijing. In response to economic pressure, the Chinese authorities have already begun implementing stimulus measures, Reuters reports. In particular, the Central Bank of the People’s Republic of China decided to reduce the cost of individual loans and reduce the provisioning ratio for banks. This will allow about 1 trillion yuan (about $138 billion) of additional liquidity to be channeled into the economy.
We will remind that at the beginning of April 2025, Donald Trump announced the introduction of “reciprocal” tariffs in the range from 10% to 50%. In response to numerous requests from more than 75 countries, the US agreed to suspend the new tariffs for 90 days. However, for China, which responded with its own increases, the final rate of the “reciprocal” tariff reached 125%, and together with the previous tariffs – 145%.
