After us and Chinese officials finished two days of negotiation in Switzerland, the American main negotiator in the commercial negotiations said that the meetings had led to “a lot of productivity”.
While the two main economic powers in the world are trying to find solutions to their commercial dispute after the heavy prices of American President Donald Trump and the reprisals of Beijing.
The details on what has been negotiated has not yet been published. However, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that new information would follow on Monday.
However, Greer said, without specifying what he was referring to, “it is important to understand how fast we have been able to achieve an agreement, which reflects that the differences were perhaps not as important as many could have thought.”
Meanwhile, China has remained silent on its side.
On Saturday evening, Trump went to his account on social networks to say that “great progress” was made to what he suggested could be a “total reset” on the prices that put the global economy at the edge.
On the other hand, in an editorial published by its press agency managed by the State before the start of Sunday of negotiations, China declared that it “would firmly reject any proposal which compromises the basic principles or undermines the wider cause of world equity”.
The two countries met at the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations to hold the talks.
The Washington and Beijing tariff dispute has disrupted the world markets, leaving ships in the port with goods from China. These negotiations aim to solve problems like those mentioned.
Negotiations could help stabilize the global markets shaken by the American-Chinese dead end, which has left ships carrying Chinese goods blocked in ports, pending final decisions on prices.
Trump last month increased American prices on China to 145% combined, and China retaliated with a 125% levy on American imports. The rates which are raised mainly equivalent to the two countries to boycott the products of the other, disturbing the trade which exceeded last year 586 billion euros.
In his editorial, Xinhua said: “talks should never be a pretext for coercion or continuous extortion, and China will firmly reject any proposal that compromises the basic principles or the wider cause of world equity.”
“We are the consumer of the world”
However, the upper members of the Trump administration followed the example of the president, emphasizing that a reset of American-Chinese trade relations could be on the horizon.
“Secretary Bessent clearly said that one of his goals was to defuse,” said US Secretary in Commerce Howard Larnick, who was not in Geneva, “Fox News on Sunday”.
He added that the United States and China had imposed prices that were “too high to do business, but that's why they are talking at the moment”.
ADVERTISEMENT“We are the consumer of the world. Everyone wants to sell their products here,” said Libnick. “They must therefore do business with America, and we use the power of our economy to open their economy to our exporters.”
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council of the White House, told Fox News Channel “Sunday Morning Futures” that “what will happen in all likelihood is that relations will be restarted. It seems that the Chinese are very, very eager to play ball and renovate things. ”
“We are essentially starting again, from scratch with the Chinese,” said Hassett, “and they seem to think that they really want to rebuild a relationship that is great for both of us.”
The talks mark the first time that the parties met face to face to discuss questions. And although the prospects for breakthrough are limited, even a small reduction in prices, especially if it is implemented simultaneously, could help restore confidence.
ADVERTISEMENT“Negotiations to begin to defuse the growth of the United States-China Trade War are very necessary, and it is a positive sign that the two parties were able to accelerate gracefully beyond their quarrels who had to call first,” said Jake Werner, director of the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, in an email at AP.
The Trump administration has imposed prices on the countries of the world, but its dispute with China was the most intense. Trump's import taxes on Chinese products include a 20% load aimed at putting pressure on Beijing to stop the flow of synthetic fentanyl opioid in the United States.
The remaining 125% are part of a dispute that dates back to Trump's first mandate and occurs at the top of the prices he imposed on China, which means that total prices on certain Chinese products can exceed 145%.
