WASHINGTON: Senior US and Chinese officials met in Geneva on Saturday (May 10) in a bid to de-escalate a trade war sparked by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff rollout and fuelled by Beijing’s strong retaliatory measures.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were conferring with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in the Swiss city in the first such talks between the world’s two largest economies since Trump slapped steep new levies on China last month.
Shortly after 9.30am (3.30pm, Singapore time), Bessent, Greer and around a dozen more US delegates marched through the lobby of Geneva’s luxury Intercontinental hotel, ignoring journalists’ requests for comment before ducking into waiting cars and speeding off.
The Chinese delegation left from another five-star hotel, the President Wilson on the shores of Lake Geneva, with large police contingents escorting the two convoys through the city, blocking all other traffic on their routes.
By late morning, Chinese state media confirmed the weekend-long talks had begun.
The exact venue had been shrouded in secrecy, but AFP determined they were being held in a discreet location on the other side of the city.
Tariffs imposed 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 slapped 125 per cent levies on US goods, cementing what appears to be a near trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump signalled on Friday that he could lower the sky-high tariffs on Chinese imports, taking to social media to suggest that an “80% Tariff on China seems right!”
“The president would like to work it out with China … He would like to de-escalate the situation,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News on Friday evening.
Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, clarified that the US would not lower tariffs unilaterally, adding that China would need to make concessions as well.
In any case, it would be a symbolic gesture, since the tariffs would remain prohibitively steep.
