China and the United States have reached a first trade agreement after the Geneva talks, the details of which will be released tomorrow. The news comes after "a very good meeting today with China, in Switzerland . A lot discussed, a lot agreed upon. A total reset negotiated in a friendly but constructive way . We want to see, for the good of both China and the United States, an opening of China to American companies . Great progress has been made." Donald Trump wrote this in Truth, commenting on the first day of talks on tariffs between the US and China in Geneva.
Second round today, and perhaps also on Monday. Satisfaction also from China, with the state agency Xinhua that defined " the contact in Switzerland an important step in promoting the resolution of the issue ", while the Global Times, the newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, relaunched the request for a revocation of unilateral duties "to demonstrate the necessary sincerity in the talks". Revocation already excluded by Donald Trump, who however on the eve of the negotiations opened up to a reduction of tariffs to 80%. The hypothesis of a suspension of duties for 90 days during the negotiations remains, as granted to other countries.
In the meantime , the tycoon has announced "four or five more agreements" soon, after the "wonderful" one with London. And he explained that "there may be exceptions", but that "basically there will be a baseline of at least 10%, and some of these tariffs will be much higher - 40%, 50%, 60% - as they have done with us over the years".
FACE TO FACE – The American delegation in Switzerland is led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has become the real “negotiator in chief”. He is accompanied by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, while the hawk Peter Navarro is absent. For the Dragon, there is the Chinese vice-premier and economic czar He Lifeng, an old friend and loyal ally of Xi. Also present is Wang Xiaohong, the Chinese president’s principal security advisor, confirming the importance that the fight against fentanyl, the synthetic drug produced in China that kills thousands of Americans and that Trump wants to stop, can play in the negotiations.
The location of the face-to-face meeting was kept secret , but witnesses saw both delegations heading to the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations, in the leafy suburb of Cologny, overlooking Lake Geneva .
THE DIALOGUE LINE – Beijing was initially in favor of a hard line: negotiations only after the revocation of duties. The dialogue line prevailed, also because the Dragon fears it will not be able to sustain the clash with Washington for long, despite the ostentations of security on the fundamentals of its economy (in April it remained in deflation for the third consecutive month). Beijing is also worried that the US will push other countries to sign trade agreements that penalize the Dragon, creating a new world trade order without (or with less) China.
(Unioneonline/vl)