Officials from the U.S and China are set to meet in Switzerland this weekend amid the Trump administration's efforts to reach what it views as fairer trade deals.
Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with Chinese officials, marking the highest level of publicly known engagement between the countries since what the White House dubbed ‘Liberation Day’ — when President Trump enacted higher reciprocal tariff rates against dozens of nations.
“We have to make a great deal for America,” President Trump said.
While rates were paused for many nations, they remained for China in the face of retaliatory action. The U.S. has since raised reciprocal and fentanyl related tariffs to 145% against China, while China has countered with its own 125% tariff rate.
Ahead of the talks, President Trump suggested openness to perhaps lowering tariffs, noting, "You can't get any higher. It's at 145, so we know it's coming down,” before throwing out the rate of 80% Friday morning.
“80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B.,” the President wrote on Truth Social, adding “CHINA SHOULD OPEN UP ITS MARKET TO USA — WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR THEM!!! CLOSED MARKETS DON’T WORK ANYMORE!!!”
The comments marked a departure from his rejection earlier in that he would cut tariffs to get China to negotiate.
“The president still remains with his position that he is not going to unilaterally bring down tariffs on China. We need to see concessions from them as well. And again, that's part of the reason that Secretary Bessent is going to talk to his Chinese counterparts this weekend, to start those discussions in person,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday.
“As for the 80% number. That was a number the president threw out there and we'll see what happens this weekend,” she added.
President Trump has maintained he believes China wants to make a deal, but said he would not be disappointed if that’s not reached over the weekend.
“We already made a great deal. We're not doing business with China right now. We lost $1 trillion last year with China,” he said.
Earlier in the week, Bessent told Fox News he doesn't expect a major deal but hopes to de-escalate the trade war.
“The world has been coming to the U.S., and China has been the missing piece," Bessent told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
The White House has kept details of talks close ahead of the meeting, and suggested more following the meeting.
“I think that everything will happen while the talks are happening not before,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told reporters Friday when pressed if there would be a drop in tariffs ahead of the talks. “Scott Bessent and Jamison Greer are going into the negotiations with an open mind working closely with their colleagues and there won’t be news about what happens to tariffs or other things until after the talks finish.”
The talks expected on Saturday could also take place on Sunday, depending on how they go, according to a source familiar with them.
The meeting marks the “start of trying to figure out how to get the two sides to talk,” according to Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Liu believes there’s a likelihood for the countries to agree to not further escalate, but if each shows “they are willing to offer some necessary concessions to pave the way for trade negotiation that could be a good sign.”
“I think both sides have already carved out a lot of tariff exemptions individually so that for me is already a signal that neither side wants to continue the trade tension or tariff war,” Liu said.
However, Liu noted that the compromises that each could offer seem limited.
While Liu noted the Chinese could offer further cooperation on countering the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals and strengthening cooperation on counter narcotics, she added that she doesn’t believe China would accept an 80% tariff rate.
“But at least Secretary Bessent and the U.S. team, if they can offer or express clarification that the tariff is not intending to contain China and if they can clarify that in a convincing way, that would be good. I think China wants the U.S. to lower tariffs and go back to pre-Liberation Day level. But I think the U.S. may not necessarily be at this stage over this weekend.“
While tariffs take time to have an impact, Greta Peisch, partner at Wiley Rein and former general counsel at USTR under the Biden administration, believes the current administration “… is starting to get a sense, that you know with shipments falling down, that there is going to be an impact coming and wanting to and thinking about how to manage that, and potentially providing some reduction in tariffs in order to strike a balance there between what they want to see from China and managing the economic impact in the United States.”
Peish noted the difference in the second Trump administration’s countrywide approach versus the first Trump administration’s use of Section 301 investigations on sectors.
“It's interesting that so far, at least, it's been countrywide, and I think a question is, as they proceed with discussions about taking down the tariffs, will that start to change? Will they think about sectors, consumer goods, inputs, manufacturing equipment and other places where lower tariffs could make sense under different rationale, or will they keep this kind of country-wide policy in place,” Peisch said. “And I think that, to me, given the first Trump administration, it would be surprising if that's where they end up in the long term, but that doesn't seem like that's where the path that they're on right now.”
The talks in China come on the heels of the U.S. and UK announcing the outlines of a trade deal Thursday.
Hassett suggested they are working on about two dozen trade deals, with India close to the finish line.
President Trump on Friday maintained the current 10% universal tariff rate is a minimum baseline, but that “there could be an exception if somebody does something exceptional for us.”
