GENEVA (AN) — Despite little hope of a breakthrough, Chinese Vice Premier He Lipeng and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struck a deal for ending the trade war between the world's two largest economies after two long days of negotiations, according to the White House.
U.S. President Donald Trump, whose punishing tariffs set off the trade war, said on Sunday that negotiators made "great progress" in finding areas of agreement. “Many things discussed, much agreed to," he wrote on social media. "A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.”
The weekend of talks hosted by Switzerland brought together China's lead for China-U.S. economic and trade affairs and the United States' chief financial officer at an 18th century villa above Lake Geneva that the Swiss government uses as a home for its ambassador to the United Nations.
It marked the first formal China-U.S. discussions on trade since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a minimum 145% tariff on most Chinese imports and China retaliated with a 125% tariff on most U.S. imports.
Vice Premier He's delegation, with Bessent and the U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, met in Geneva's diplomatic hub that serves as the U.N.'s European headquarters and is home to other international organizations, notably the World Trade Organization, or WTO.
Afterward, Vice Premier He said a joint U.S.-China statement would be released on Monday. "The meeting achieved substantial progress and reached important consensus," he told reporters in Geneva after the talks ended. The White House released a brief statement titled, "U.S. Announces China Trade Deal in Geneva," with quotes from Bessent and Greer.
"I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks," Bessent said. "The Swiss government has been very kind in providing us this wonderful venue and I think that led to a great deal of productivity we’ve seen. We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive."
Greer said "the deal we struck with our Chinese partners" will help resolve the "national emergency" Trump declared to set the tariffs. "It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought," Greer said, adding that "a lot of groundwork" beforehand helped the talks.
On the eve of the talks, Trump had floated the idea of reducing his steep protective tariffs on Chinese imports to 80%, but he also had demanded that China "open up its market" to the United States.
Bessent, however, had predicted that a trade deal likely would not be reached in Geneva. "My sense is this will be about de-escalation, not a big trade deal. We need to de-escalate before we can move forward," he told Fox News, adding the talks were scheduled to run through the weekend.
When Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, the White House 'fact sheet' accompanying the announcement said the tariffs would "remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!"
In an indication of the importance of China's role as principal supplier of precursors for fentanyl, Vice Premier He was accompanied by Wang Xiaohong, China's public security minister and State Council senior leader.
As the U.S. share of imported goods from China fell to its lowest level in more than two decades during the first quarter of this year, many U.S. companies complained the tariffs threaten to put them out of business due to the higher costs they must pay or pass on to American consumers.
The Chinese government said it would respond not to threats and pressure, but to real dialogue "on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit" in keeping with WTO's framework of rules governing international trade, promoting open markets and fair trade practices.
"China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests and international fairness and justice, and defend WTO rules and the multilateral trading system," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
Separate Swiss meetings with Chinese, U.S. officials
On Friday, Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Vice President Guy Parmelin Bessent met separately with the Chinese and U.S. delegations.
Trump's tariffs were set at 31%-32% on Switzerland and at 37% on neighboring Liechtenstein, much higher than on other European countries. European Union exports have a 20% tariff; the U.K. a 10% tariff.
Swiss and U.S. leaders held previous discussions on the sidelines of the World Bank Group's spring meetings in Washington last month.
"Both sides agreed to accelerate negotiations on reciprocal trade," Greer's office said, adding the U.S. "welcomes Switzerland’s ambition in these negotiations" which will continue "over the next several weeks."
The Swiss-China talks focused on economic relations, "challenges facing international trade policy," and negotiations to "optimize the bilateral free trade agreement" between them, the Swiss government said. China is Switzerland's third biggest trade partner after the E.U. and the U.S.
The Swiss government also said the talks were "convivial and constructive" and "aimed at defining the parameters for a solution."
Swiss companies showed interest in making up to 200 billion Swiss francs ($240 billion) in new U.S. investments, Bessent said, and the U.S. expects Greer to receive a "detailed Swiss proposal" in the coming week.
This story has been updated with additional details.
