Bessent And Greer To Meet With Chinese Trade Official In Switzerland

President Donald Trump’s top trade officials will be holding face-to-face trade talks with a Chinese economic official for the first time since the U.S. imposed punishing tariffs on China and set off a global trade war.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are expected to meet later this week with a senior Chinese official during a trip to Switzerland to meet with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, marking progress in trade negotiations that have largely been stalled over the past few months.

Both Greer’s office and the Treasury Department announced the meeting without specifying the official, though China announced that He Lifeng, the vice premier of China, will make the trip to Switzerland to hold a “high level meeting” on economic and trade affairs.

“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 in a statement. “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.”

The meeting comes as both the Trump administration and Chinese officials have indicated that there may be room for some negotiations. The U.S. has imposed tariffs of more than 145 percent on China, causing China to impose its own 125 percent tariff on U.S. imports and to cut off access to the critical minerals used to make many electronic goods.

“Our doors are open if the U.S. wants to talk,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday. But he made clear that the Trump administration’s narrative of compelling trading partners to the negotiation table won’t work with Beijing. “If a negotiated solution is truly what the U.S. wants, it should stop threatening and exerting pressure,” Lin added.

Greer’s and Bessent’s meeting could serve as an opening salvo in talks that would lower what has effectively become a trade embargo between the two countries. Already, businesses are warning of higher prices as imports to the West Coast have plunged to levels not seen since the early days of the Covid pandemic.