
- Senior and will meet in to restart stalled trade talks.
- The talks aim to de-escalate the trade war intensified by .
- and Vice Premier He Lifeng will lead the negotiations.
Senior US and Chinese officials will travel to Switzerland later this week to kickstart stalled trade talks following President Donald Trump鈥檚 sweeping tariff rollout, according to statements from both countries.
The talks mark the first official public engagement between the world鈥檚 two largest economies aimed at resolving a trade war escalated by Trump shortly after his return to office in January.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer will attend the talks on behalf of the United States, their offices said.
Bessent told Fox 九一星空无限 that the sides would hold meetings on Saturday and Sunday, local time, intended to lay the groundwork for future negotiations.
鈥淲e will agree what we鈥檙e going to talk about. My sense is that this will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal,鈥 Bessent told The Ingraham Angle show.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to de-escalate before we can move forward,鈥 he added.
Vice Premier He Lifeng will attend for Beijing, China鈥檚 Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
鈥淰ice Premier He, as the Chinese lead person for China-US economic and trade affairs, will have a meeting with the US lead person, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent,鈥 the ministry said.
The USTR announced that Greer would also meet with 鈥渉is counterpart from the People鈥檚 Republic of China to discuss trade matters鈥, without naming He.
Since Trump returned to the White House in January, his administration has levied new tariffs that now total 145% on goods from China, with some sector-specific measures stacked on top.
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Beijing retaliated by slapping 125 levies on US imports to China, with more targeted measures.
The tit-for-tat tariffs have left the two nations with cripplingly high levies that have shocked financial markets and reportedly caused a sharp slowdown in bilateral trade.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 sustainable, as I have said before, especially on the Chinese side. 145%, 125% is the equivalent of an embargo. We don鈥檛 want to decouple. What we want is fair trade,鈥 Bessent said.
鈥 Agence France-Presse
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