The Geneva Trade Platform: The First Steps in a Dance Between the Swiss and the United States, and the U.S. After the First Trade War
The chance of it happening has been taken by China and the U.S., according to Keller-Sutter. “We really hope that this platform we can offer will also lead to a result, because it would be in the interest of, I would say, the world economy and world commerce.”
President Keller-Sutter said that the Swiss would be happy to help facilitate dialogue between the two economic powers at a time when the expected impacts of tariffs on stock prices and economic forecasts alike are having a negative effect on the economy.
Bessent said he was originally only visiting Geneva to edge closer to a separate, updated trading arrangement with Swiss authorities. They told reporters at a news conference that they hoped their own agreement with Washington could be completed in a few weeks.
But for Bessent, China has been the “missing piece,” as he explained in a recent interview on Fox News — one of the only countries that until now has refused to enter discussions on trade.
Just days before these discussions of seismic economic significance, the United Kingdom became the first country to strike its own limited trade deal with the Trump administration — albeit one that left tariffs of 10% still in place on most British exports.
The discussions started early Saturday morning in a villa owned by the Swiss government, with sweeping views of a sun-lashed Lake Geneva. Bessent said on the villa’s front steps that the conversations were productive and that President Trump was kept up to date with developments.
GENEVA — Officials from the United States and China began trade-related talks here Saturday, marking the first face-to-face conversations since President Trump placed new tariffs of 145% on Chinese goods.
The meetings in a Swiss city known for conflict resolution are the first potential attempts to end a trade war that has caused billions of dollars of import disruption across both the United States and China.
The Chinese have confirmed He Lifeng is the country’s vice premier for economic affairs, and the U.S. delegation was led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“The two delegations will be feeling one another out — neither side particularly benefits from this current iteration of the trade war continuing,” said Grozoubinski, now the executive director of the Geneva Trade Platform think tank.
“This is going to be the first steps in a dance where they try to feel out: ‘OK, what would a win for you look like, and is that a price we’re willing to pay,’ while trying to communicate the same thing in the other direction,” he said.
Dmitry Grozoubinski, a former diplomat and trade Negotiating for Australia, says a swift resolution is unlikely, and this initial set of conversations could start a months long marathon of negotiations.
The first day of trade talks between the US and China: a meeting that focused on the “Holy Spirit” and the new pope
Bessent met with senior Swiss officials, including Keller-Sutter, when he arrived in Switzerland. She told him she hoped the Holy Spirit that had visited Rome this past week — during the election of a new pope — might travel up to Geneva this weekend too, to help nudge things along.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday evening that the two sides had made what he called “substantial progress,” but that more details would be announced Monday.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said the atmosphere had been collegial and professional, and the meeting had been an important first step to resolving differences through dialogue.
U.S. Trade Presentative Jamieson Greer, who joined Bessent as part of the U.S. delegation, meanwhile highlighted the speed at which both sides had found common ground.
“It is important to understand how quickly we were able to come to an agreement”, said Greer. It was something, he said, “which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as far as maybe thought.”
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council and Howard Lutnick, commerce secretary, were two of the administration’s officials who spoke on television about the positive tone of the talks.
He was speaking inside his country’s mission to the World Trade Organization, in Geneva. Beijing did not want a trade war with the US, but China would fight to the end, as senior Chinese officials have repeated several times in recent weeks.
After weeks of chaotic markets,investors will be more than happy to see that the important disruption to trade between the two countries won’t continue and that the economic consequences will improve.
“I would caution against too much reading of the tea leaves,” according to Dmitry Grozoubinski, a former Australian trade negotiator based in Geneva. It’s possible that they agreed upon what their conversation should be about, and what kind of things they will talk about.