The war of customs duties close to its term? The Americans have reported “substantial progress”, the Chinese of “significant progress” after two days of negotiations In Geneva, in order to lower trade tensions between the first two world economies.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that discussions made it possible to make “substantial progress”, in a brief statement to the press after the two-day meeting with Chinese Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng.
🚨 BREAKING: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issues new statement after many hours of negotiating with the Chinese on trade…
“A great deal of the productivity we’ve seen. We will be giving details tomorrow. But I can tell you that the talks were productive. We had the Vice… pic.twitter.com/9Rj3tp2bUA
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 11, 2025
The latter followed the step for him a few hours later by evoking the journalists “significant progress” after two days of discussions which he described as “frank, in -depth and substantial”.
“Consultation mechanism”
Beijing and Washington agreed to establish “a consultation mechanism” on trade, said He Lifeng. The Vice Minister of Commerce Li Chenggang said that the mechanism in question would allow “regular and irregular exchanges relating to commercial issues”.
“These discussions mark a significant step forward and, we hope, have a good omen for the future,” said the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. “These progress is important only for the United States and China, but also for the rest of the world, especially the most vulnerable economies. »»
The commercial differences between the two countries, however inflamed by a war of customs rights, “are not as great as one could imagine,” said Jamieson Greer, the American representative to trade, before journalists in Switzerland. The two men did not answer any questions and Bessent said that the details of the plan under discussion would be presented on Monday.
Zero
Saturday evening, commenting on the discussions in Geneva, the American president Donald Trump had seemed to want to leave for zeroafter having imposed ever higher customs duties on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese products imported into the United States. Beijing responded to the tac.
“A reset to zero has been negotiated in a friendly but constructive manner,” wrote Trump on the Truth Social network, adding in capitals and with great reinforcement of exclamation points: “Great progress has been made !!! ».
A very good meeting today with China, in Switzerland. Many things discussed, much agreed to. A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner. We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) May 10, 2025
On the Chinese side, nothing filtered except a line from the news agency China Nouvelle which had described the discussions on the banks of Lake Geneva as “an important step in promoting litigation resolution”. However, the delegation is expected to express themselves on Sunday evening.
The importance of the issue of these discussions was reflected in the high level of representation. The negotiations were held in camera in the residence of the Swiss representative with the United Nations, a opulent villa nestled on the left bank of Lake Geneva.
Neither
“These negotiations reflect the fact that the current state of trade relations, with these prohibitive customs rights, is ultimately in the end in the interest either of the United States or China,” said Nathan Sheets, chief economist at Citigroup.
The Geneva meeting was the first face-to-face of senior officials of the two world’s largest economies since Trump imposed last month A surcharge of 145 % on goods from Chinain addition to preexisting customs duties.
Beijing, who promised to fight these surcharges “until the end”, Ripped with 125 % customs duties on American products. Result: bilateral exchanges are practically stopped and the markets have experienced violent upheavals. “It is a losing-perceive proposal to have such high customs duties,” says Nathan Sheets.
Towards a return to normal?
Donald Trump had made a gesture on Friday by suggesting to lower customs duties to 80 % that he himself imposed on Beijing. But his spokesperson Karoline Leavitt hastened to clarify that Washington would not abuse his taxes unilaterally and that China also had to make concessions.
The simple fact that these discussions take place “is good news for trade and financial markets”, estimates Gary Hufbauer, of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIe). However, this expert is “very skeptical of a return to a normal situation in trade relations between China and the United States”. “Customs duties of 145 % are absolutely prohibitive,” he continues, adding that even lowered to 70 % or 80 % as it is about, the level of transactions between the two countries would be divided by two.
The Chinese Deputy Prime Minister arrived in Geneva with it seems an asset: Beijing announced on Friday a leap of 8.1 % of its exports in April, a figure four times higher than the forecasts of the analysts. But exports to the United States fell by almost 18 %.