A breakthrough in the tariff standoff between the United States and China emerged on Tuesday evening.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are poised to meet with Chinese officials in Switzerland over the weekend to discuss trade and economic matters, according to their respective agencies. China reportedly confirmed there will be talks.
“I was going to be in Switzerland to negotiate with the Swiss. Turns out, the Chinese team is traveling through Europe and they will be in Switzerland also. So, we will meet on Saturday and Sunday,” Bessent said during an interview on Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle.”
.@SecScottBessent: “The world has been coming to the U.S. and China has been the missing piece. I was going to be in Switzerland to negotiate with the Swiss. Turns out, the Chinese team is traveling through Europe and they will be in Switzerland also. So, we will meet on Saturday… pic.twitter.com/QJZHl98bOx
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 6, 2025
While many countries received a 90-day reprieve for “Liberation Day” tariffs above the baseline rate of 10% last month, the United States increased the overall penalty on Chinese goods to 145%. Beijing responded by raising tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%.
“The world has been coming to the U.S. and China has been the missing piece,” Bessent said. He added later that the United States and China have “shared interests” and stressed that the current situation “isn’t sustainable, as I’ve said before, especially on the Chinese side.”
Protests erupted in China last month as factory workers in Suining, Hunan, and Inner Mongolia demanded unpaid wages and benefits after factory closures triggered by Trump’s steep tariffs. The economy in the United States has also been impacted, with shipments from China falling and growing concerns about price increases.
“We don’t want to decouple; what we want is fair trade,” Bessent said.
Bessent and Greer, who are traveling to Switzerland later this week, are also expected to meet with the country’s president, Karin Keller-Sutter, to discuss trade.
“At President Trump’s direction, I am negotiating with countries to rebalance our trade relations to achieve reciprocity, open new markets, and protect America’s economic and national security,” Greer said. “I look forward to having productive meetings with some of my counterparts as well as visiting with my team in Geneva who all work diligently to advance U.S. interests on a range of multilateral issues.”
Trump administration officials have been negotiating on trade with a host of nations over the past several weeks and have signaled progress in talks with the likes of India, South Korea, and Japan.
