US and China hail 'constructive' Geneva trade talks

Australia Broadcast Center

12-05-2025

The US and China have ended high-stakes trade talks on a positive note, with US officials touting a "deal" to reduce the US trade deficit.
Chinese officials said the sides had reached "important consensus" and agreed to launch another new economic dialogue forum.
Neither side released details after they wrapped up two days of talks on Sunday in Switzerland.
Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng said a joint statement would be released in Geneva on Monday.
Vice-Commerce Minister Li Chenggang said it would contain "good news for the world".
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer described "substantial progress" and also said details would be announced on Monday.
In separate briefings with reporters, neither side mentioned any agreement to cut US tariffs of 145 per cent on Chinese goods and China's 125 per cent tariffs on US goods.
Mr Greer and Mr Bessent took no questions from reporters.
The US Treasury chief has said previously that these duties amount to a trade embargo between the world's two largest economies and need to be "de-escalated."
Financial markets have been on edge for signs of a thaw in a bitter US-China trade war that has already begun to disrupt supply chains, prompt layoffs and raise wholesale prices.
Mr Greer described the Geneva meetings' conclusion as "a deal we struck with our Chinese partners" that would help reduce the $US1.2 trillion ($1.9 trillion) US global goods trade deficit.
"And this was, as the secretary pointed out, a very constructive two days," Mr Greer said.
The US trade chief called Mr He, Mr Li and Vice-Finance Minister Liao Min "tough negotiators".
Mr He, speaking to reporters at China's mission to the World Trade Organization, described the talks as "candid, in-depth and constructive" on issues of concern to both countries.
"The meeting achieved substantial progress, and reached important consensus," Mr He said, drawing applause from a large audience of Chinese officials present at the WTO office.
He also met with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who said she was "pleased with the positive outcome" of the talks and urged the two countries to build on momentum to mitigate trade tensions.
The WTO has ruled against Mr Trump's past tariffs on Chinese goods, but the cases have been stalled in the WTO's paralysed appellate body due to the US blocking judge appointments.
The US and China agreed to establish a new consultation mechanism for trade and economic issues, with relevant details to be finalised as soon as possible, Mr He added.
China and the US have convened numerous consultation bodies to try to resolve trade and economic differences in recent decades, including the Economic Working Group that former president Joe Biden's Treasury secretary Janet Yellen established with Mr He in 2023.
These dialogues have provided forums for airing bilateral grievances, but have done little to advance Washington's longstanding goal to shift China's state-dominated, export-driven economic model toward one driven by consumer spending.
The meeting was the first face-to-face interaction between senior US and Chinese economic officials since Mr Trump took office and launched a global tariff blitz, declaring a national emergency over the US fentanyl crisis and imposing a 20 per cent tariff on Chinese goods in February.
Mr Trump followed with a 34 per cent "reciprocal" duty on Chinese imports in April, and subsequent rounds pushed the rates into triple digits, bringing nearly $US600 billion ($935 billion) in two-way trade to a standstill.
China had insisted that tariffs be lowered in any talks.
Mr Trump said on Friday that an 80 per cent tariff on Chinese goods "seems right", suggesting for the first time a specific reduction target.
Mr Greer said there was a lot of groundwork done before the Geneva meetings on Saturday and Sunday, and that the result would address the national emergency that Mr Trump declared over growing US trade deficits.
A White House press release that simply repeated Mr Bessent's and Mr Greer's brief comments with no details ran the headline: "US announces China trade deal in Geneva."
Earlier on Sunday, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the Chinese were "very, very eager" to engage in discussions and rebalance trade relations with the US.
Mr Hassett also told Fox News's Sunday Morning Futures program that more foreign trade deals could be coming with other countries as soon as this week.
Last week's limited trade deal with Britain left 10 per cent US duties in place on many UK products.
Overnight, Mr Trump gave a positive reading of the talks, saying on his Truth Social media platform that the two sides had negotiated "a total reset … in a friendly, but constructive, manner."
Reuters