The American secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Information Salle of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2025.
Mandel ngan | AFP | Getty images
The Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the United States representative Jamieson Greer will meet their Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this weekend to discuss economic and commercial issues, their offices announced on Tuesday.
“We have shared interests,” said Bessent later on “Ingraham Angle” by Fox News. The current tariff war “is not sustainable,” said Bessent, “especially on the Chinese side. And you know, 145% [tariffs]125%is the equivalent of an embargo. We don’t want to decouple, what we want is a fair trade. “”
Bessent and Greer will meet their Chinese counterparts on Saturday and Sunday, said the secretary to the Treasury.
The meetings seem to be a major step towards the negotiations at the start of Washington and Beijing to potentially resolve the current trade warframed by President Donald Trump.
“My feeling is that it will be a question of de -escalation, not the Big Trade agreement,” said Bessent to the host Laura Ingraham. “But we have to defuse before we can move forward.”
Trump accelerated the prices last month on Chinese imports to 145% while he reduced so -called reciprocal prices on almost all other American business partners. China, which is one of the largest trade partners in America, retaliated with high prices on American products.
Stock Futures, which opened its doors in red on Tuesday evening, became higher higher after the news.
Bessent and Greer plan to meet Swiss President Karin Keller-Sound during their visit, said their offices.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng, the highest official in Beijing for economic and commercial issues in China-US, will meet Bessent in Switzerland, reported NBC News.
“Economic security is national security, and President Donald J. Trump opens the way to the country and abroad for a stronger and more prosperous America,” said Bessent in a statement announcing the meetings.
“I look forward to productive discussions while we are working to rebalance the international economic system towards a better function of the interests of the United States,” said Bessent.
Greer’s office said that he will also “meet his counterpart from the People’s Republic of China to discuss business issues” during his stay in Geneva, said his office.
“In the direction of President Trump, I negotiate with countries to rebalance our trade relations to achieve reciprocity, open new markets and protect economic and national security in America,” said Greer.
“I can’t wait to have productive meetings with some of my counterparts as well as to visit my team in Geneva who all work with diligence to advance American interests on a range of multilateral problems,” said Greer.
Trump earlier Tuesday, China wanted to meet, and the United States will do it “at the right time”.
“They want to negotiate and they want to have a meeting and we will meet them at the right time,” said Trump in the White House at a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Trump also expressed his frustration in the face of people “asking how many offers do you sign this week?” Despite the fact that his administration had declared that other countries requested bilateral trade negotiations with the United States.
“Everyone says:” When, when, when are you going to sign offers? “” Trump set the White House.
“We don’t have to sign offers, they have to sign agreements with us. They want an element in our market. We don’t want an element in their market,” said Trump.
Bessent also declared earlier Tuesday that the United States was negotiating with 17 trade partners, and China was not part of it.
“China, we have not yet participated in negotiations,” said Bessent in front of a sub-comity of the chamber credits.
– CNBC Erin Doherty contributed to this report.
