Geneva (AFP) – The US and China will Monday give details of “substantial progress” touted by Washington on trade talks aimed at ending a devastating tariff war launched by US President Donald Trump that has wiped billions off equities and brought chaos to international commerce. US Treasury Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and international trade representative Li Chenggang for closed-door talks in Geneva on Saturday and Sunday.
It was the first time senior officials from the world’s two largest economies have met face-to-face to talk trade since Trump imposed steep new levies on China totalling 145 percent, with cumulative US duties on some Chinese goods reaching a staggering 245 percent. In retaliation, China has put 125 percent tariffs on US goods. The trade spat between Washington and Beijing has rocked financial markets and raised fears of a global economic slowdown and an inflationary spike in the United States.
Both sides sounded an optimistic note after the talks ended on Sunday, without providing many specifics, with the White House calling it a new “trade deal”. “We’ve made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” Bessent told reporters in Geneva after the second day of discussions. “The talks were productive,” he said, taking no questions but promising a “complete briefing” Monday on the outcome. Greer also said meetings had been “very constructive” and appeared to point to a deal. “It is important to understand how quickly we were able to come to an agreement which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as may be thought,” he said.
The Chinese delegation also pledged to release a joint communique on Monday. China’s He told reporters that the atmosphere in the meetings had been “candid, in-depth and constructive,” calling them “an important first step.” The two sides have agreed to set up a joint mechanism focused on “regular and irregular communications related to trade and commercial issues,” Li told reporters at the briefing. Markets in Asia rallied on Monday morning as investors welcomed news that weeks of trade turmoil could be finally coming to an end.
– Devil in the details –
“These discussions mark a significant step forward and, we hope, bode well for the future,” World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement shortly after her own meeting with He. “Amid current global tensions, this progress is important not only for the US and China but also for the rest of the world, including the most vulnerable economies,” she added. Ahead of the meeting at the discreet villa residence of Switzerland’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Trump signalled he might lower the tariffs, suggesting on social media that an “80% Tariff on China seems right!”. However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that the United States would not lower tariffs unilaterally. China would also need to make concessions, she said.
“It’s definitely encouraging,” Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) vice president Wendy Cutler told AFP on Sunday after the talks had concluded. “The two sides spent over 15 hours in discussions,” she said. “That’s a long time for two countries to be meeting, and I view that as positive.” But, she added, “the devil will be in the details.”
– ‘The beginning’ –
The Geneva meeting comes days after Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first with any country since he unleashed his blitz of global tariffs. The five-page, non-binding deal confirmed to nervous investors that Washington is willing to negotiate sector-specific relief from recent duties. But Trump maintained a 10 percent levy on most British goods, and threatened to keep it in place as a baseline rate for most other countries. “What we get in these talks is a beginning of the narrative, the beginning of a dialogue,” Citigroup global chief economist Nathan Sheets said in an interview over the weekend, as the US-China talks were under way. “This is just the beginning of a process, getting the ball rolling.”
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© 2024 AFP
