Washington and Beijing will hold their first trade talks this week since U.S. President Donald Trump launched a trade war against China, which shocked financial markets and attracted attention to supply chains.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Geneva this week. China said the deputy prime minister and deputy economic officials would lead his delegation.
The meeting will be the first high-level interaction between the two sides since Vice President Han Zheng attended Trump's inauguration in January.
"I look forward to productive negotiations as we work to improve the international economic system to better serve the interests of the United States," Best said.
The meeting marked the first real effort to resolve the trade war. Washington imposes a 145% tariff on imports from China, while Beijing's retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods is 125%.
This is the first positive signal of the level of attention to the record level that both parties are concerned about each other. Trump has repeatedly stated that these countries are in talks, which is a contradiction between his own team.
Washington and Beijing are already in a deadlock. Trump has always wanted to talk directly with his rival Xi Jinping, but China has made it clear that this will not be held to start negotiations at the leadership level.
Beijing had earlier said the U.S. should cut tariffs as a prerequisite for negotiations, but state media last week said that meetings with Washington would not be "no harm."
Bessent appeared before Congress earlier Tuesday, telling lawmakers that although the Trump administration is negotiating with 17 of its 18 major trading partners, there has been no trade talks with Beijing.
Last month, Trump's "countdown" of nearly every U.S. trading partner was a 50% levy, triggering a sell-off in the global stock market. He then lowered the tax to a baseline of 10% for 90 days.
The United States has been holding talks with multiple countries in an attempt to reach a more permanent deal, but it is unclear how much the Trump administration is willing to lower tariffs or who they think they think it can be negotiated.
The Trump administration also said it is preparing to announce tariffs on several departments, which is important. In recent weeks, it launched a national security investigation that could lead to the expropriation of chips and consumer electronics, wood, copper, medicines and critical minerals. On the weekend, Trump threatened to put tariffs on foreign movies.