{"id":136956,"date":"2025-05-10T23:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T23:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-and-china-meet-for-first-time-since-trump-imposed-tariffs-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T23:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T23:40:09","slug":"us-and-china-meet-for-first-time-since-trump-imposed-tariffs-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-and-china-meet-for-first-time-since-trump-imposed-tariffs-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"US and China Meet for First Time Since Trump Imposed Tariffs – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tariffs<\/span><\/span><\/span>
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The outcome of the trade negotiations, which are to resume on Sunday, could determine the trajectory of the global economy.
By <\/span>Alan Rappeport<\/a>Ana Swanson<\/a> and Alexandra Stevenson<\/a>
Alan Rappeport and Ana Swanson reported from Washington, and Alexandra Stevenson from Hong Kong.
Top economic officials from the United States and China concluded their first day of meetings in Geneva on Saturday evening, setting up a second day of high-stakes negotiations on Sunday that could determine the fate of a global economy that has been jolted by President Trump\u2019s trade war.
Neither side provided an immediate readout about how the talks went.
The meetings are the first since Mr. Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 percent and China retaliated with its own levies of 125 percent on U.S. goods. The tit-for-tat effectively cut off trade between the world\u2019s largest economies while raising the possibility of a global economic downturn.
While the stakes for the meetings are high, expectations for a breakthrough that results in a meaningful reduction in tariffs are low. It has taken weeks for China and the United States to even agree to talk, and many analysts expect this weekend\u2019s discussions to revolve around determining what each side wants and how negotiations could move forward.
Still, the fact that Beijing and Washington are finally talking has raised hopes that the tension between them could be defused and that the tariffs could ultimately be lowered. The impact of the levies is already rippling across the global economy, reorienting supply chains and causing businesses to pass additional costs onto consumers.
The negotiations will be watched closely by economists and investors, who fear that a U.S.-Chinese economic war will lead to slower growth and higher prices around the world. Businesses, particularly those that rely on Chinese imports, are also on high alert about the talks as they grapple with how to cope with the new taxes and the uncertainty about whether they will remain in place.
\u201cBoth the U.S. and China have strong economic and financial interests in de-escalating their trade hostilities, but a durable d\u00e9tente is hardly in the offing,\u201d said Eswar Prasad, a former director of the International Monetary Fund\u2019s China division.
\u201cNevertheless,\u201d he added, \u201cit represents significant progress that the two sides are at least initiating high-level negotiations, offering the hope that they will temper their rhetoric and pull back from further overt hostilities on trade and other aspects of their economic relationship.\u201d
The Trump administration\u2019s negotiators are being led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a former hedge fund manager who has said the current tariff levels are unsustainable. He will be joined by Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, who helped design Mr. Trump\u2019s first-term trade agenda, which included a \u201cPhase 1\u201d deal with China<\/a>. Mr. Trump\u2019s hawkish trade adviser, Peter Navarro, was not scheduled to participate in the talks.
He Lifeng, China\u2019s vice premier for economic policy, is leading the talks on behalf of Beijing. The Chinese government has not confirmed who else will be with Mr. He at the meetings or if Wang Xiaohong, China\u2019s minister of public security, who directs its narcotics control commission, will attend. Mr. Wang\u2019s participation would be a sign that the two sides might discuss Mr. Trump\u2019s concerns about China\u2019s role in helping fentanyl flow into the United States.
The trade fight has started to take a toll on the world\u2019s largest economies. On Friday, China reported that its exports to the United States in April dropped 21 percent from a year earlier. Some of the largest U.S. companies have said they will have to raise prices to deal with the tariffs, cutting against Mr. Trump\u2019s promise to \u201cend\u201d inflation.
On Friday, Mr. Trump signaled<\/a> that he was prepared to begin lowering tariffs, suggesting that an 80 percent rate on Chinese imports seemed appropriate. Later in the day, referring to the China trade talks, Mr. Trump said, \u201cWe have to make a great deal for America.\u201d He added that he would not be disappointed if a deal was not reached right away, arguing that not doing business is also a good deal for the United States.
The president also reiterated that he had suggested lowering the China tariffs to 80 percent, adding, \u201cWe\u2019ll see how that works out.\u201d
The Trump administration has accused China of unfairly subsidizing key sectors of its economy and flooding the world with cheap goods. The United States has also been pressuring China to take more aggressive steps to curb exports of precursors for fentanyl, a drug that has killed tens of thousands of Americans.
China has been steadfast in saying it does not intend to make trade concessions in response to Mr. Trump\u2019s tariffs. Officials have insisted that the nation agreed to engage in talks at the request of the United States.
\u201cThis tariff war was launched by the U.S. side,\u201d Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said this week. \u201cIf the U.S. genuinely wants a negotiated solution, it should stop making threats and exerting pressure, and engage in talks with China on the basis of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit.\u201d
An 80 percent tariff, while a big drop from the current 145 percent, would still most likely shut off most trade between the countries.
China and the United States could take other concrete gestures to help pave the way for future negotiations, other experts said.
One option would be to scale back tariffs to about 20 percent, where they were in early April before Mr. Trump announced 34 percent levies on goods from China and mutual retaliation ensued, said Wu Xinbo, the dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
\u201cIf we can scale back to that stage, then I think it will be a major progress in leading towards more constructive negotiations,\u201d Mr. Wu said.
He said China was prepared to talk about fentanyl as a separate issue, adding that China had offered to sit down with the Trump administration in February after Mr. Trump first announced plans to impose tariffs<\/a> on Chinese goods, citing the flow of illegal fentanyl into the United States.
The United States and China are meeting in proximity to the headquarters of the World Trade Organization, which has sharply criticized Mr. Trump\u2019s tariff wars. The group has forecast that the continued division of the global economy into \u201crival blocs\u201d could cut global gross domestic product by nearly 7 percent over the long run, particularly harming the world\u2019s poorest countries. A spokesman for the W.T.O. said it welcomed the talks as a step toward de-escalation.
The alternative \u2014 a world in which the United States and China no longer engage in trade \u2014 could be economically painful and destabilizing. American consumers, who have come to rely on cheap goods from China, could soon confront thinly stocked store shelves and high prices for the products that remain.
The National Retail Federation said on Friday that import cargo traffic in the United States is expected to decline this year for the first time since 2023, when supply chain problems were persistent, and attributed the decline to Mr. Trump\u2019s tariffs.
\u201cWe are starting to see the true impact of President Trump\u2019s tariffs on the supply chain,\u201d said Jonathan Gold, the retail federation\u2019s vice president for supply chain and customs policy. \u201cIn the end, these tariffs will affect consumers in the form of higher prices and less availability on store shelves.\u201d
The Trump administration has been racing to make trade deals with 17 other major trading partners after the president\u2019s decision to pause the reciprocal tariffs he announced in April. On Friday, he hailed a preliminary agreement with Britain as evidence that his tariff strategy was working.
Economists have been heartened by signs that the White House appears ready to scale back tariffs.
\u201cThis rush to demonstrate progress on \u2018deals\u2019 reveals a rising desperation within the administration to roll back tariffs before they hit G.D.P. growth and inflation,\u201d Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist for Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients. \u201cWith the slump in incoming container ships from China raising fears of imminent shortages in the U.S., the pressure is building on the Trump administration to de-escalate that tariff buildup.\u201d
Capital Economics estimates that if the United States lowered its tariffs on China to 54 percent, the overall effective tariff rate on imports for the United States would fall to 15 percent from 23 percent. That would put its growth and inflation forecasts back in line with its estimates from earlier this year that were based on Mr. Trump\u2019s campaign pledges.
It remains unclear whether Mr. Trump would accept a 54 percent tariff rate.
On Friday, he suggested that he was prepared to lower tariffs to 80 percent as he gave Mr. Bessent the authority to make a deal.
\u201c80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B.,\u201d Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.
Later in the day, his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that 80 percent figure was not an official offer and was instead \u201ca number that the president threw out there.\u201d She added that Mr. Trump would not lower tariffs on China unless Beijing also reduced its levies.
An earlier version of this article misstated how many Americans have died after using the drug fentanyl. It is tens of thousands of Americans, not millions.
When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com<\/a>.<\/span>Learn more<\/a>
Alan Rappeport is an economic policy reporter for The Times, based in Washington. He covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal matters.
Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade.
Alexandra Stevenson is the Shanghai bureau chief for The Times, reporting on China’s economy and society.
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