GENEVA, May 11. /TASS/. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reported "substantial progress" in U.S. talks with China’s top economic officials to de-escalate a damaging trade war, but offered no details of an agreement reached as two days of negotiations wrapped up in Geneva, Reuters reported.
Bessent told reporters that details would be announced on Monday and that U.S. President Donald Trump was fully aware of the results of the "productive talks."
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who participated in the talks with Bessent, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and two Chinese vice ministers, described the conclusion as "a deal we struck with our Chinese partners" that will help reduce the $1.2 trillion U.S. global goods trade deficit.
According to Bessent, the bilateral duties are too high, they need to be reduced as part of efforts to de-escalate trade tensions between the two countries. Greer said the differences between the parties turned out to be "not so large as maybe thought."
Earlier, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ruled out lifting duties on imports of Chinese goods and services. Official representative of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce He Yadong said that China would not compromise on fundamental issues and would not sacrifice justice for the sake of concluding a deal with the Trump administration.
On April 2, Trump announced the imposition of customs duties on products from 185 countries and territories. Russia is not on this list.
Universal tariffs of 10% came into force on April 5, individual tariffs on April 9.
Also on April 9, the American leader suspended for 90 days the additional reciprocal import duties imposed on some states and territories. The White House explained that the pause is related to trade negotiations, and during this period a universal tariff of 10% will be in effect.
The total US duties on goods from China stands at 145%. In response, China raised tariffs on American goods to 125% from April 12.