Over the weekend, heavy representatives for the USA and China have met for the first time since the trade war started for negotiations in Geneva. They were led by the US Finance Minister Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng.
After the talks ended on Sunday evening, Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer stated that they had made "significant progress" and that "the differences may not be as large as one might think”.
However, they did not provide any details about what they had agreed on.
"Consultation mechanism"
He Lifeng also says that important progress has been made and describes the talks as sincere, in-depth, and essential, according to AFP.
Some of the statements by Greer and Bessent have been interpreted as if some kind of agreement has been reached. But both countries refer to a joint statement on Monday.
At the same time, the Vice Premier says that the countries' discussions have resulted in an agreement to "establish a consultation mechanism”.
China's representative for international trade, Li Chengang, explains that the mechanism would enable "regular and irregular communication related to trade and commercial issues”.
Opened for reduction
Sunday night, Donald Trump also wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that Saturday's meeting had been "very good”.
"Many things were discussed, many things were agreed on. A total restart that was negotiated in a friendly, but constructive way", he wrote.
Prior to the weekend, he opened up for reducing tariffs against China to 80 percent compared to the 145 percent that applies today. The White House clarified afterwards that it cannot be a matter of any reductions without reciprocity from China.
China has responded to his tariffs by introducing its own import tariffs of 125 percent on American goods.
