Top Trump officials to meet Chinese counterparts amid trade war

Senior US officials are set to meet a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend, the administration said, in the first major talks between the two nations since Donald Trump sparked a trade war between them. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer will meet their counterparts in Geneva in the most-senior known conversations between the two countries in months. The meeting in Switzerland comes amid growing US market concerns over the impact of US tariffs on the prices and supply of consumer goods.

The president had claimed previously that the US and China were holding negotiations on lowering tariffs, which Beijing has denied, saying Mr Trump must first lower his stiff tariffs. The Chinese Commerce Ministry on Tuesday confirmed the meeting between vice premier He Lifeng and Mr Bessent in Switzerland. “The Chinese side carefully evaluated the information from the US side and decided to agree to have contact with the US side after fully considering global expectations, Chinese interests and calls from US businesses and consumers,” said a ministry spokesperson.



Mr Bessent and Mr Greer also plan to meet with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, according to readouts from their respective offices. Mr Bessent earlier on Tuesday testified to a House committee that the US and China “have not engaged in negotiations” but “as early as this week”, the US will be announcing trade deals with some of the country’s largest trading partners. Mr Greer told Fox News Channel last month that he spoke with his Chinese counterpart for more than an hour before the trade war started.

“I thought it was constructive,” he said. “This is not a plan just to encircle China. It’s a plan to fix the American economy, to have a greater share of manufacturing as GDP, to have real wages go up, to be producing things instead of having an economy that’s financed by the government.

” Mr Bessent in February spoke with Mr He “to exchange views on the bilateral economic relationship”, according to a Treasury news release..