(NewsNation) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Jamieson Greer, President Donald Trump’s top trade negotiator, will meet with Chinese officials this weekend in Geneva.
The meeting, announced Tuesday by the White House, is a potential first step toward ending the tariff tit-for-tat between the two economic powerhouses.
Trump’s sweeping tariffs have targeted China and its reciprocal actions against the United States. He blocked the country from a 90-day tariff pause announced in April and removed China’s de minimis tariff exemption on low-value packages.
Tariffs against China are currently 145%, while China’s on the U.S. total 125%.
Though Trump previously claimed U.S.-China negotiations were underway — and said he’d spoken with President Xi Jinping — officials in Beijing have denied the talks altogether.
As recently as Tuesday, Bessent told lawmakers the two countries had not yet held any meetings.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry on Tuesday confirmed the upcoming meeting between its vice premier and Bessent in Switzerland, but clarified that China would not “sacrifice its principles or global equity or justice in seeking any agreement.”
The trade dispute has rocked both domestic and international stock markets, sowed recession concerns among experts and spurred price increases for certain products, including budget retail brands like Temu and Shein.
Tuesday’s announcement sent U.S. stock futures rising and saw a positive Wednesday start in the Asian trade — a potential reprieve for Americans, who are seeing the lowest consumer confidence levels since the COVID-19 pandemic.