WASHINGTON - Top U.S. officials will meet in Switzerland this weekend in a senior Chinese delegation this weekend since President Donald Trump launched a trade war with severe tariffs on imports.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Geneva counterparts in the longest known dialogue between the two countries within months. Concerns in the U.S. market continue to rise due to the impact of tariffs on the prices and supply of consumer goods.

Trump's trade war has suffered more severely than China's largest exporter and second-largest economy. When Trump announced the "Liberation Day" tariffs on "Liberation Day" on April 2, China retaliated against its own tariffs, which Trump believes showed a lack of respect. Since then, tariffs on each other’s goods have been increasing, with the U.S. tariffs on China now at 145% and China’s tariffs on the U.S. at 125%.

U.S. companies have begun to cancel Chinese orders, postpone expansion plans and get stuck due to the tariff war.

Trump has previously claimed that the United States and China are negotiating tariff reductions, which Beijing denies and that Trump must first lower his serious tariffs. Bessent testified to the House committee earlier Tuesday that the U.S. and China “have not been negotiated yet” but that “early this week” the U.S. will announce a deal with some of the U.S.’s largest trading partners.

China's Commerce Ministry confirmed a meeting between its deputy prime minister and Switzerland's Bass on Tuesday.

A spokesperson said: "China carefully evaluated the information on the U.S. and decided to contact the U.S. after taking into account global expectations, China's interests and phone calls from U.S. businesses and consumers."

The spokesman said China will not seek any agreement “sacrificing its principles, global equity or justice.”

Most economists say the cost of tariffs will be passed to consumers at higher prices for cars, groceries, housing and other goods. And, higher prices have become a burden for American consumers, the biggest economic trend since the United Nations pandemic on the 19th. Meanwhile, economists say the risk of a recession is increasing.

Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade official and now vice president of the Institute for Policy Studies at the Asian Association, said the upcoming meeting was a welcome development.

"The first face-to-face meeting between senior U.S. officials since Trump took office, is an important opportunity to relax some tariffs, map out a path forward and raise concerns," Cutler said. "We should not expect any quick wins - it will be a process that takes time."

In Switzerland, Bessent and Greer are also planning to meet with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, according to readers of their respective offices.

Greer and Bessent both spoke to their peers before the trade war began.

Greer told Fox News last month that he had talked with his Chinese counterparts for more than an hour before the trade war began. He added: "I think it's constructive, it's not a plan, it's just a plan to surround China. It's a plan to solve the U.S. economy, with a larger manufacturing industry as GDP, to make real wages rise, to produce things, not to have a government-funded economy."