US and Chinese officials have a preliminary trade agreement to ease tensions between the two nations. This is after two days of negotiations in Switzerland.
Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the talks as “productive” and said more information will be released Monday.
“I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
“… The Swiss government has been very kind in providing us this wonderful venue, and I think that led to a great deal of productivity we’ve seen. We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive. We had the vice premier, two vice ministers, who were integrally involved, Ambassador Jamieson [Greer], and I. And I spoke to President Trump, as did Ambassador Jamieson, last night, and he is fully informed of what is going on, so there will be a complete briefing tomorrow.”
“This was, as the Secretary pointed out, a very constructive two days,” Greer said. “It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought,” Greer continued.
“That being said, there was a lot of groundwork that went into these two days. Just remember why we’re here in the first place — the United States has a massive $1.2 trillion trade deficit, so the President declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs, and we’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency.”
BREAKING: U.S. Announces China Trade Deal in Geneva pic.twitter.com/JjgvYAvAGe
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 11, 2025
.@SecScottBessent says there has been a “great deal of productivity” in trade talks with China: “We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive.” pic.twitter.com/v85uugnMnV
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 11, 2025
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A trade deal with China that is favorable to the US would be a huge victory for the Trump administration and the American people, who have long suffered while foreign countries imposed huge tariffs on our products. A US/China deal should also lead to other agreements being completed quickly, as countries would not want to lose out on the largest… Read more »
Logically huge trade deficits (effectively a transfer of wealth) are unsustainable. When one side allows that, he other side loses respect and sees weakness, which invites war. Secondly, such deficits means one side’s manufacturing capacity is being destroyed.
Logically huge trade deficits (a transfer of wealth) and inequitable tariffs are unsustainable. When common sense prevails there is the opportunity for all to benefit. There is also the matter of respect. Without respect war in inevitable.