Geneva meeting meets China in first sign of thaw in trade war: U.S. and China’s economic representative meets He Lifeng

The United States and China will hold talks in Switzerland later this week, signaling a possible end to the trade war between the two countries.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet Beijing’s lead economic representative, He Lifeng, potentially paving the way for broader trade talks.

The United States and China have been locked in a trade war with both sides imposing tariffs on each other’s goods.

China and the U.S. “need to move on,” said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for the Asia Pacific at French bank Natixis. “I think both parties are keen to negotiate.”

“For the negotiations to yield substantial results, the US must adopt a proper attitude,” according to an editorial published on a Chinese news site.

The U.S. will remove the steep tariffs on Chinese goods but maintain the 20% duties, according to a prediction by Lopez-Herrero.

They convinced their electorate that the other side is evil so the deal will be announced as a small thing. “So they can’t change that at the moment.”

Source: U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Geneva in first sign of thaw in trade war

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China’s door is still open for negotiation, but it won’t sacrifice its principles for just any agreement, said a spokesman for the commerce ministry.

It’s no surprise that the Chinese side comes to the talks with a sense of security, as President Trump has blinked in the face of recent turbulence in bond markets and financial markets. The midterm elections in the United States could exert some pressure on President Trump to lower or cut tariffs if consumer prices rise as a result of a shortage of goods.

China’s central bank and its financial regulators on Wednesday took their biggest policy steps yet to shield the economy from the trade war, moving to shore up the economy with a series of steps to make it easier for banks to lend money and get people spending.

The Trump administration’s “tariff policies have dealt a severe blow to the international economic and trade order, triggered significant turbulence in international financial markets, and placed considerable pressure on the domestic capital market,” said Wu Qing, China’s stock regulator, at a press briefing with top officials.

The Chinese economy is slowing and they still have the upper hand, according to an adviser at a Washington research group. If they stonewall the Trump administration, they could end up doing something to cripple the global economy.