Americans and Chinese spoke in one voice at the end of two days of closed discussions held in Geneva on the thorny file of customs duties, the two parties reporting major advances in their negotiations. “Substantial progress” For the first, “Significant progress” According to the latter: the two largest economic powers, engaged in a commercial showdown since the taxation of prohibitive customs duties by Donald Trump, will disseminate a common statement on this file on Monday.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that discussions had made it possible to “Substantial progress”in a brief statement to the press at the end of the two-day meeting with Chinese Deputy Prime Minister, He Lifeng. The latter followed the step for him a few hours later by evoking in front of the journalists of the “Significant progress” After two days of discussions which he described as frank, in -depth and substantial.
Beijing and Washington agreed to establish “A consultation mechanism” On trade, said He Lifeng. The vice-minister of trade Li Chenggang said that the mechanism in question would allow “Regular and irregular exchanges relating to commercial issues”. Trade differences between the two countries, however ignited by a war of customs duties, “Are not as tall as one could imagine”added Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, ahead of journalists in Switzerland.
“Resting to zero”
The negotiations were held in camera in the residence of the Swiss representative with the United Nations, a opulent villa nestled on the left bank of Lake Geneva.
On Saturday evening, commenting on distance discussions, American president Donald Trump seemed to want to go on new bases, after having imposed ever higher customs duties on the hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese products imported into the United States. Beijing had responded to the tac. “A reset to zero has been negotiated in a friendly but constructive manner”had written Mr. Trump on the Truth Social Network, adding in capitals and with a lot of exclamation points: “Great progress has been made!” »».
The meeting was the first face-to-face of senior officials of the two largest world economies since Trump imposed a surcharge of 145 % last month on goods from China, in addition to pre-existing customs duties. Beijing, who promised to fight “Until the end” These surcharges retaliated with 125 % customs duties on American products.
Friday, Donald Trump had made a gesture by suggesting to lower the customs duties that he himself imposed on Beijing at 80 %. But his spokesperson Karoline Leavitt hastened to clarify that Washington would not abuse his taxes unilaterally and that China also had to make concessions.
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The Chinese Deputy Prime Minister arrived in Geneva with, it seems, an asset: Beijing announced on Friday a jump of 8.1 % of its exports in April, a figure four times higher than the forecasts of analysts. But exports to the United States fell by almost 18 %.