Trump officials to meet with Chinese counterparts on trade, economic matters

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this weekend to discuss economic and trade matters, their offices announced Tuesday.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this weekend to discuss economic and trade matters, their offices announced Tuesday.

“We have shared interests,” Bessent said later on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle.” The current tariff war “isn’t sustainable,” said Bessent, “especially on the Chinese side. And, you know, 145 percent [tariffs], 125 percent, is the equivalent of an embargo. We don’t want to decouple, what we want is fair trade.”

Bessent and Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts on both Saturday and Sunday, the Treasury secretary said.

The meetings appear to be a major step toward Washington and Beijing beginning negotiations to potentially resolve the ongoing trade war ignited by President Donald Trump.

“My sense is that this will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal,” Bessent told host Laura Ingraham. “But we’ve got to de-escalate, before we can move forward.”