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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (May25/12) Yerevan, 7 May (D. Ravi Kanth) — The United States and China are expected to hold talks in Switzerland later this week to explore the possibility of whether the two sides could commence the process of lowering the tensions in the tariff and trade war launched by United States President Donald Trump against China, which has been aggressively targeted on several fronts, said people familiar with the development. The move comes after three months of heightened trade and economic uncertainty caused by the Trump administration’s imposition of unilateral tariffs against countries, in a seemingly blatant violation of the World Trade Organization’s rules, said people familiar with the development. Senior officials from the US and China are expected to meet in Switzerland at the reported initiative of the President of the Swiss Confederation, Karin Maria Keller-Sutter. While the US team will be led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the US Trade Representative (USTR), Ambassador Jamieson Greer, the Chinese side will be headed by Vice Premier He Lifeng, according to media reports. For some time now, the US Treasury Secretary has repeatedly indicated that the high level of tariffs are unsustainable. The announcement of a US-China meeting comes hours after Mr Bessent said that the US administration has not begun trade talks with China, according to a report in the Washington Trade Daily of 7 May. “Economic security is national security, and President Donald J Trump is leading the way both at home and abroad for a stronger, more prosperous America,” the Treasury Secretary said late evening on 6 May. “I look forward to productive talks [with China] as we work towards re-balancing the international economic system towards better serving the interests of the United States,” he said. The USTR’s Office has indicated that Ambassador Greer will meet with USTR staff in Geneva as well as the Swiss President and the Chinese trade negotiator. He will meet with President Keller-Sutter of Switzerland to discuss negotiations about reciprocal trade. “At President Trump’s direction, I am negotiating with countries to re-balance our trade relations to achieve reciprocity, open new markets, and protect America’s economic and national security,” said Ambassador Greer. “I look forward to having productive meetings with some of my counterparts as well as visiting with my team in Geneva who all work diligently to advance US interests on a range of multilateral issues.” Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the Chinese Commerce Ministry said that recently, US senior officials frequently released signals to adjust tariffs and actively sent information to the Chinese side through multiple channels, expressing the intention to start talks on tariff-related issues with China. China has conducted a careful evaluation of these communications. According to a spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry, at the invitation of the government of Switzerland, from May 9 to 12, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council He Lifeng will visit Switzerland. During his visit to Switzerland, Vice Premier He, as the Chinese lead person for China-US economic and trade affairs, will have a meeting with the US lead person Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to the Foreign Ministry. The Trump administration has imposed a slew of unilateral tariffs, beginning with a 20% fentanyl-related tariff on all Chinese goods; a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium products from all countries, including China; a baseline tariff of 10% on all goods entering the US market; and a 34% “reciprocal” tariff on all Chinese goods. In response to President Trump’s tariffs, China retaliated by imposing tariffs on US goods while simultaneously launching trade disputes against the US at the WTO. The imposition of tariffs by both sides – 145% by the US on Chinese goods and 125% by China on US goods – has almost brought trade between them to insignificant levels. Last week, the Trump administration also imposed a 100% tariff on goods from China with a value of less than $800 while terminating the so-called de minimis provision. These moves have severely disrupted China-US economic and trade relations, destabilized the international economic and trade order, and posed grave challenges to global economic recovery and growth, said a report in the Global Times on 7 May. China’s position is consistent. Whether it is confrontation or negotiation, China’s resolve to safeguard its development interests will never waver, neither will its stance and objectives in upholding international fairness and justice and the global economic and trade order, the Global Times quoted the Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson as saying. “If the US says one thing but does another, or even attempts to use talks as a pretext to continue coercion and blackmail, China will never accept it. Nor will China compromise its principles and stance or sacrifice international fairness and justice to reach any agreement,” the spokesperson stressed, according to the Global Times report. +
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