Trade talks between the US and China aimed at easing their potentially devastating economic battles will continue on Sunday after wrapping up in Switzerland on Saturday night, officials have told the media.
The talks between the world’s two largest economies come after they recently imposed tariffs of more than 100 per cent on each other.
There was no immediate indication whether progress was made on Saturday during the meeting of more than 10 hours between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifang.
Senior officials from both countries were meeting in Geneva in what Chinese state media described as an “important step” towards resolving the trade war sparked by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
It is the first such negotiations since Mr Trump slapped steep new levies on China last month and Beijing’s robust retaliation.
“The contact in Switzerland is an important step in promoting the resolution of the issue,” a commentary published by China’s state news agency Xinhua said.
The talks were being held at the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, a discrete villa with sky blue shutters near a large park on the left bank of Lake Geneva.
Tariffs imposed by Mr Trump on the Asian manufacturing giant since the start of the year currently total 145 per cent, with cumulative US duties on some Chinese goods reaching a staggering 245 per cent.
In retaliation, China slapped 125 per cent levies on US goods, cementing what appears to be a near trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.
Mr Trump signalled on Friday he might lower the sky-high tariffs on Chinese imports, taking to social media to suggest that an “80 per cent tariff on China seems right!”.
“The president would like to work it out with China … He would like to de-escalate the situation,” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News on Friday.
Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, clarified the US would not lower tariffs unilaterally, adding that China would need to make concessions as well.
In any case, a move to that level would be a symbolic gesture, since 80 per cent tariffs would remain prohibitively steep.
Ten per cent baseline
China’s vice president went into the discussions buoyed by news on Friday that China’s exports rose last month despite the trade war.
The unexpected development was attributed by experts to a re-routing of trade to Southeast Asia to mitigate US tariffs.
Mr Bessent and Mr He were meeting two days after Mr Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first deal with any country since he unleashed his blitz of sweeping global tariffs.
The five-page, non-legally binding document with London confirmed to nervous investors that the United States was willing to negotiate sector-specific relief from recent duties — in this case, on British cars, steel and aluminium.
In return, Britain agreed to open up its markets to US beef and other farm products.
But a 10 per cent baseline levy on most British goods remained intact and Mr Trump remains “committed” to keeping it in place for other countries in talks with the US, Leavitt told reporters on Friday.
A few hours later, Mr Trump appeared to contradict her, suggesting there could be some flexibility to the baseline — but only if the right deals could be reached.
“There could be an exception at some point. We’ll see,” he said.
“If somebody did something exceptional for us, that’s always possible.”
Wires