U.S. and China begin 2nd day of tariff talks. No breakthroughs but Trump touts ‘great progress’

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday they reached a deal with China to cut the U.S. trade deficit, describing “substantial progress” in high-stakes talks with Chinese officials but offering no details as two days of negotiations concluded in Geneva.

Mr. Bessent told reporters that details would be announced on Monday and that U.S. President Donald Trump was fully aware of the results of the “productive talks” with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and two Chinese vice-ministers.

Mr. Bessent and Mr. Greer did not mention any plans to cut punishing U.S. tariffs of 145 per cent on Chinese goods and China’s 125 per cent tariffs on U.S. goods.

They took no questions from reporters.

The U.S. Treasury chief has said previously that these duties amount to a trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies and need to be “de-escalated.”

Mr. Greer described the Geneva meetings’ conclusion as “a deal we struck with our Chinese partners” that will help reduce the US$1.20trillion U.S. global goods trade deficit.

“And this was, as the secretary pointed out, a very constructive two days,” Mr. Greer said. “It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought,” Mr. Greer said.

He called Vice-Premier Mr. He, Vice-Commerce Minister Li Chenggang and Vice-Finance Minister Liao Min “tough negotiators.”

The meeting was the first face-to-face interaction between senior U.S. and Chinese economic officials since Trump took office and launched a global tariff blitz that started with declaring a national emergency over the U.S. fentanyl crisis, imposing a new 20 per cent tariff on Chinese goods in February.

Trump followed with a 34 per cent “reciprocal” duty on Chinese imports in April, and subsequent rounds pushed the rates into triple digits, bringing nearly $600 billion in two-way trade to a standstill.

China had insisted that tariffs be lowered in any talks. Trump said on Friday that an 80 per cent tariff on Chinese goods “seems right,” suggesting for the first time a specific reduction target.

Greer said there was a lot of groundwork done before the Geneva meetings on Saturday and Sunday, and that the result would address the national emergency that Trump declared over growing U.S. trade deficits.

“We’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency,” Greer said.

A White House press release that simply repeated Bessent’s and Greer’s brief comments with no details ran the headline: “U.S. announces China trade deal in Geneva.”

The Chinese officials were expected to brief reporters in Geneva later on Sunday evening.

Earlier, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the Chinese were “very, very eager” to engage in discussions and rebalance trade relations with the United States.

Hassett also told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures program that more foreign trade deals could be coming with other countries as soon as this week following last week’s limited trade deal with Britain that left 10 per cent U.S. duties in place on many U.K. products.

Hassett said he had been briefed by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on two dozen pending deals in development with USTR Greer.

“They all look a little bit like the U.K. deal but each one is bespoke,” Hassett said.

Overnight, Trump gave a positive reading of the talks, saying the two sides had negotiated “a total reset. . . in a friendly, but constructive, manner.”

“We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!”

The negotiating teams met at the gated villa of Switzerland’s U.N. ambassador, overlooking Lake Geneva in the leafy suburb of Cologny. Black Mercedes vans with sirens shuttled to and from the venue, which was bathed in bright sunshine.

Neutral Switzerland was chosen as the venue following approaches by Swiss politicians on recent visits to China and the United States.

Washington is seeking to reduce its $295 billion goods trade deficit with Beijing and persuade China to renounce what the United States says is a mercantilist economic model and contribute more to global consumption, a shift that would require politically sensitive domestic reforms.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary on Saturday that the United States’ “reckless abuse of tariffs” had destabilized the global economic order, but added that the negotiations represented “a positive and necessary step to resolve disagreements and avert further escalation.”

With distrust running high, both sides have been keen not to appear weak, and economic analysts had low expectations of a breakthrough.