United States President Donald Trump, in a Truth social post early Sunday, praised the “very good” negotiations with China and deemed them a total reset, discussed in a friendly but constructive manner.
The second day, closed-door meetings between the US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent; Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer; and Chinese Vice Premier, He Lifeng, are due to restart in the morning, sources told reporters.
"These talks reflect that the current state of the trade relations with these extremely high tariffs is ultimately in the interests of neither the United States nor China," Citigroup global chief economist Nathan Sheets informed reporters, calling the tariffs a "lose-lose proposition."
The ongoing discussions began when representatives from two of the world's biggest economies met face-to-face to discuss what experts call “harsh trade tariffs” imposed by the United States president, Donald Trump, sparking robust retaliation from Beijing.
The tariffs imposed by the trump administration on one of the world's leading manufacturing hubs since the start of the year currently total 145 per cent, with cumulative percentages on some Chinese imports totalling 245 per cent.
In response, China imposed reciprocal tariffs of 125 per cent on US goods, cementing what appears to be a near trade embargo between the two nations.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump signalled he might lower the tariffs, suggesting on social media that an "80 per cent Tariff on China seems right!"
However, white house spokesperson Karoline Leavitt later clarified that the United States would not lower tariffs unilaterally and that China would also need to make concessions.
Also Read: US-Chinese officials meet in Geneva to discuss tariff troubles
The unexpected development was attributed by experts to a re-routing of trade to Southeast Asia to mitigate US tariffs.
Among some of the more moderate Trump officials like Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, "there's a realisation that China is better equipped to deal with this trade war than the US," said Hufbauer.
"It's nice that they're talking. But my expectations for the actual outcomes of this first round of talks is pretty limited," Sheets from Citigroup revealed.
"I think it's quite possible they'll walk away from Geneva saying how constructive and productive the talks were but not actually reducing tariffs at all," Hufbauer said.
In his Truth Social post, Trump said the talks had made "GREAT PROGRESS!!"
"We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business," he added.
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