Senior US and Chinese officials held talks early on Saturday in Geneva in a tentative first step towards defusing a trade war that is disrupting the global economy, according to China’s state-owned news agency and people close to the talks.
China’s vice premier, He Lifeng, and the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, met after weeks of growing tensions that have seen duties on goods imports between the world’s two largest economies rise above 100%.
The trade dispute, combined with the decision from the US president, Donald Trump, last month to impose duties on dozens of other countries, has disrupted supply chains, unsettled financial markets and stoked fears of a sharp global downturn.
Trump said on Friday an 80% tariff on Chinese goods “seems right”, suggesting for the first time a specific alternative to the 145% levies imposed on Chinese imports.
The location of the talks has been kept secret, although a witness saw more than a dozen police cars outside a private residence in a leafy Geneva suburb.
Shortly after 9.30 am local time, Bessent, the US trade representative Jamieson Greer and about a dozen US delegates marched through the lobby of Geneva’s Intercontinental hotel, ignoring journalists’ requests for comment before ducking into waiting cars and speeding off.
The Chinese delegation left from another 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.
Tariffs imposed on the Asian manufacturing giant since the start of the year currently total 145%, with cumulative US duties on some Chinese goods reaching a staggering 245%.
In retaliation, China slapped 125% levies on US goods, cementing what appears a near trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.
Beijing has said the US must lift tariffs first and vowed to defend its interests. Bessent has said the meetings in Switzerland would focus on “de-escalation” and not a “big trade deal”.
The head of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Friday she welcomed the talks, calling them a “positive and constructive step toward de-escalation”.
