US-China Trade Talks Continue as
Trump Says ‘Total Reset’ Negotiated

Geneva, 11 May (ONA) — Talks
between top U.S. and Chinese officials today resumed for a second day, after
U.S. President Donald Trump voiced optimism over the negotiations aimed at
easing trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout in recent
months.

In a Truth Social post following the
first day of talks in Geneva, Trump praised the “very good”
discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but
constructive, manner.”

Earlier, Chinese state news agency
Xinhua also described the talks in Switzerland as “an important step in
promoting the resolution of the issue.”

The second day of closed-door
meetings between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trade Representative
Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng resumed shortly after 8 a.m.
GMT Sunday.

“These talks reflect that the
current state of the trade relations with these extremely high tariffs is
ultimately in the interests of neither the United States nor China,”
Citigroup global chief economist Nathan Sheets told Agence France-Presse (AFP),
calling the tariffs a “lose-lose proposition.”

The discussions are the first time
senior officials from the world’s two largest economies have met face-to-face
to tackle the thorny topic of trade since Trump slapped steep new levies on
China last month, sparking a robust retaliation from Beijing.

The tariffs imposed by Trump on the
Asian manufacturing giant since the start of the year currently total 145%,
with cumulative U.S. duties on some Chinese goods reaching a staggering 245%.

In retaliation, China put 125%
tariffs on U.S. goods.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump signalled
he might lower the tariffs, suggesting on social media that an “80% Tariff
on China seems right!”

However, his press secretary,
Karoline Leavitt, later clarified that the United States would not lower
tariffs unilaterally, and that China would also need to make concessions.

Going into the meeting, both sides
played down expectations of a major change in trade relations, with Bessent
underlining a focus on “de-escalation” and not a “big trade
deal,” and Beijing insisting the United States must ease tariffs first.

The fact the talks are even
happening “is good news for business, and for the financial markets,”
said Gary Hufbauer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Peterson Institute for
International Economics (PIIE).

But Hufbauer cautioned he was
“very sceptical that there will be any return to something like normal
U.S.-China trade relations,” with even a tariff rate of 70% to 80% still
potentially halving bilateral trade.

China’s vice premier went into the
discussions buoyed by Friday’s news that China’s exports rose last month
despite the trade war.

The unexpected development was
attributed by experts to a re-routing of trade to Southeast Asia to mitigate
U.S. tariffs.

Among some of the more moderate
Trump officials like Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick,
“there’s a realization that China is better equipped to deal with this
trade war than the U.S.,” said Hufbauer.

The Geneva meeting comes after Trump
unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first deal with any country since
he unleashed his blitz of global tariffs.

The five-page, non-binding deal
confirmed to nervous investors that the United States is willing to negotiate
sector-specific relief from recent duties, but maintained a 10% baseline levy
on most British goods.

Following the U.S.-U.K. trade
announcement, analysts have voiced pessimism about the likelihood that
negotiations will lead to any significant changes in the U.S.-China trade
relationship.

“It’s nice that they’re
talking. But my expectations for the actual outcomes of this first round of
talks is pretty limited,” Sheets from Citigroup said.

“I think it’s quite possible
they’ll walk away from Geneva saying how constructive and productive the talks
were, but not actually reducing tariffs at all,” Hufbauer said.

— Ends/Khalid