Puncture tariffs: USA and China agree in the trade dispute

According to US information, the United States and China have reached an agreement in their conversations on the settlement of trade disputes. An agreement was made to reduce the US trade deficit, says US trade officer Jamieson Greer. This will help to reduce the deficit of the United States in the international goods trade of $ 1.2 trillion. Details would be announced on Monday. US President Donald Trump is informed about the status of the talks.

“Significant progress” was made, said US Finance Minister Scott Bessent on Sunday after his meeting with the Chinese Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng in Geneva. The negotiation teams met in the villa of the Swiss UN ambassador, which has its own park with a view of Lake Geneva in the suburb of Cologny.

“It is important to understand how quickly we could reach an agreement, which shows that the differences may not be as big as possibly thought,” said Greer. The Chinese are “hard negotiating partners”. The negotiators of both sides had advised how the conflict about drastic tariff increases between the two largest economies in the world can be defused.

Previously, US trade minister Howard Lutnick had generally confidently commented on the outcome of the talks. He was “optimistic that things will go out well,” Lutnick told the US news broadcaster CNN.

The Chinese side did not comment at first. On Saturday, however, the State Chinese news agency Xinhua had already described the discussion round as a “important step” on the way to a “solution to the problem”.

U.S. President Donald Trump had confidently commented on Saturday after the first round of talks. On his online platform Truth, he wrote about “very good” conversations and a “complete restart” in the trade relationships between the two largest economies in the world.

The trade talks in Geneva are the first at this level since Trump’s massive tariffs. Negotiations worldwide have been followed with great attention, since its outcome is considered crucial for the further development of global trade. The US President has occupied most of the Chinese imports with a duty of 145 percent. China reacted to many US goods with 125 percent inch.

Before the talks in Geneva, Trump had shown himself to be ready to compromise and correctly mentioned an 80 percent customs rate for China. However, his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt emphasized that Beijing also had to be ready for concessions because Washington would not unilaterally reduce tariffs. Beijing had repeatedly insisted that the United States would have to remove its tariffs first.

Note: This article has been updated.