China-U.S. trade talks make substantial progress

China and the United States both applauded the progress made during their trade talks in Geneva over the weekend in a bid to deescalate the tensions triggered by the U.S. trade wars.

Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng, the lead person for China-U.S. trade and economic affairs, met with U.S. lead persons — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Geneva on Saturday and Sunday. It was the first such high-level meeting between the two sides since the latest tit-for-tat tariff war.

"The atmosphere of the meeting was candid, in-depth and constructive. The meeting achieved substantial progress and reached important consensus," He told a press conference on Sunday evening.

He said the two sides agreed to establish a consultation mechanism of trade and economic issues, identify the lead persons on each side and will carry on further consultation relating to trade and economic issues of their respective concerns.

The two sides will finalize relevant details as soon as possible and will issue a joint statement reached at the meeting on Monday, according to He.

Asked what will be the exact timing for the release of the joint statement on Monday, Li Chenggang, China's international trade negotiator and vice minister of commerce, replied with a Chinese saying that if the dish is delicious, then the timing is not a matter.

"No matter when this statement is released, it's going to be big news and good news for the world," Li said.

He, the vice-premier, thanked the Swiss government for hosting the meeting and he also said the "professionalism and diligence" of U.S. colleagues was "impressive".

He expressed that over the past more than three months, the global trade war that was provoked by the U.S. has caught global attention.

The tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on China since the start of the year total 145 percent, with cumulative U.S. duties on some Chinese goods reaching 245 percent. China retaliated with 125 percent on U.S. goods. The situation has been described by some like a trade embargo.

"China's position for this trade war has been clear and consistent. That is: China does not want to fight the trade war because trade war produces no winners. But if the U.S. insists on forcing this war upon us, China will not be afraid of it and will fight to the end," he said, in reiterating China's stance.

He described the meeting as productive and for being an important first step taken by the two sides to properly resolve their differences through equal-footed dialogue, to bridge differences and deepen cooperation.

He emphasized that the nature of China-U.S. trade and economic relations is mutually beneficial and win-win.

"The key is to follow the principle of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation and to find ways to properly resolve issues through equal-footed dialogue and consultation in order to foster a stable, sound and sustainable China-U.S. trade and economic relationship," he said.

He expressed that the Chinese side is ready to work together with the U.S. side to actively implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in their Jan 17 phone call, and with a pragmatic approach to problem-solving.

"We are happy to engage in intensive dialogue and equal-footed consultation, manage our differences, tap into the potential of the cooperation, expand the collaborative outcome, and make the pie of mutual benefits bigger," He said.

"We can promote new development with China-U.S. trade and economic relations and inject more certainty and stability into the world economy."

Li Chenggang, China's chief negotiator, described the three features of the meeting as "mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, professionalism and high efficiency".

Bessent on Sunday also described the talks "productive".

"I'm happy to report that we've made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks," he told reporters.

Bessent said he had informed Trump of the progress of the talks.

Trump said on social media on Sunday that "a very good meeting today with China in Switzerland. Many things discussed, much agreed to. A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive manner.

"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 said on Sunday.