US Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent will leave the hotel on Saturday to attend a meeting with Chinese officials on customs in Geneva.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
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Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
Geneva – US and Chinese officials began trade-related talks here on Saturday, marking the first in-person conversation as President Trump placed a new 145% tariff on Chinese products.
The meeting in Switzerland, known for its discretion and dispute resolution, represents the first potential effort to end the trade war that has collapsed financial markets in recent weeks and sparked billions of dollars worth of imports in both the US and China.
The US delegation is led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent along with trade representative Jamieson Greer, and the only participant confirmed by the Chinese is his Lifeng, the deputy prime minister of economic situations.
The lecture will be held in a magnificent hilltop villa with wide views of Lake Geneva used by the Swiss ambassador. Neither side has issued an official statement since talks began early on Saturday.
A few days before these debates about the economic importance of the earthquake, the UK became the first country to attack a limited trade contract with the Trump administration.
Swiss Economic Minister’s Federal Councillor Guy Palmerin on the left will shake hands with Swiss President Karin Keller Sutter, the vice-president of China.
Martial Trezzini/AP/Pool Keystone
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But for Bescent, China was a “missing work.” Recent interviews about Fox News – One of the only countries that have refused to enter into trade debates up until now.
Bescent said he originally visited Geneva to visit Edge, close to another updated deal arrangement with Swiss authorities. They told reporters at a press conference Friday that they hope that their own agreement with Washington will be struck within weeks.
In the meantime, Switzerland President Karin Keller Sutter said her country was willing to help promote dialogue between the two global economic superpowers at a moment when the expected impact of tariffs was heavily heavy on stock prices and economic forecasts.
“Now, the opportunity has been taken away by China and the US,” Keller Sutter told NPR. “We really hope that this platform we can offer will also lead to results because it is in the interest of the global economy and global commerce.”
When he arrived in Geneva on Friday, Bescent met with senior Swiss officials, including Keller Sutter. She told him she hopes that the Holy Spirit, who visited Rome last week during the election of a new pope, will travel to Geneva again this weekend to help tweak things.
However, a quick resolution seems unlikely, and this initial set of conversations will merely mark the beginning of a month-long marathon of negotiations, says Dmitry Grozoubinski, a former Australian diplomat and trade negotiator.
“The two delegations feel to each other. Neither side will benefit from the current repetition of this current trade war,” said Grozoubinski, now executive director of the Geneva trade platform think tank.
“This will be the first step in the dance they are trying to feel. We are trying to convey the same thing in other directions as ‘OK, what will your victory look like, and the price we are willing to pay’,” he said.
