The United States and China organize the first trade discussions since Trump’s prices

Trump senior officials will meet their Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this week, the first official trade meeting between the United States and China since President Trump raised prices on Chinese imports at three-digit levels last month.

Scott Bessent, the secretary of the Treasury, and Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, plan to meet Chinese officials during a trip to Geneva, where they will discuss commercial and economic issues, according to separate announcements from the office of the commercial representative and the Treasury department.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that he Lifeng, Vice-Prime Minister of Economic Policy, would go to Switzerland from Friday to Monday to Monday and maintain Mr. Bessent. Mr. Bessent said on Fox News that talks would take place on Saturday and Sunday.

Reunion could help defuse an economically damaging commercial impasse that has persisted between the biggest economies in the world in a month. In early April, Trump increased the prices on Chinese exports to a minimum of 145%, to punish Beijing for retalling against his previous samples.

While the two parties seem to be interested in reducing these prices, none wanted to take the first step. It is not known how fast the United States and China could conclude any type of agreement, or what its content could be.

The Trump administration criticized China for its role in the contribution of fentanyl and ingredients to make drugs in the United States, as well as a multitude of unfair commercial practices. Mr. Trump and his advisers also censored China for omitting to stick to the terms of a trade agreement that the president negotiated during his first mandate. China, in return, described Mr. Trump’s prices “illegal and unreasonable”.

Companies have complained that high prices on both sides of the Pacific have stopped and threatened to put many American companies without activity. In the first quarter of this year, the American share of goods imported from China fell to its lowest level In addition to two decades, trade links between countries have been increasingly tense.

Speaking on Tuesday of the White House, during a visit to the Canadian Prime Minister, Trump said the Chinese were impatient from a meeting. “They want to meet, and they are doing nothing right now,” he said.

Asked about the talks in Switzerland, a spokesperson for the Chinese trade ministry said that US officials had “permanently disrupted information on the adaptation of pricing measures and actively transmitted information to China by various channels, in the hope of speaking with China on prices and other problems.”

“China has carefully evaluated American information,” said the spokesperson. “Based on the global expectations fully, the interests of China and calls from American industry and consumers, China has decided to engage with the United States”

“If the United States wants to solve the problem through negotiations,” added the spokesperson, “it has to face the serious negative impact of unilateral tariff measures on itself and in the world, up to international economic and commercial rules, equity and justice, and rational votes from all sectors of life, show sincerity by discussions, the bad practices, China and solve the concerns of both parties by both parties.

Mr. Bessent and Mr. Greer should also meet the Swiss president, Karin Keller-Sutter, to discuss a potential trade agreement.

ESWAR PRASAD, a former manager of the International Monetary Fund, who is now a professor of economics at Cornell University, said that it was “an extremely positive development that the two parties finally put their posture and beginner negotiations aside”. He added that “even if a full-fledged trade agreement was unlikely, a de-escalation itself would have both economic and political advantages for the two administrations.”

Rapper in the field Contributed reports.