Donald Trump increased China’s tariffs from 145% to 80% before the weekend meeting as he is trying to eliminate the trade war.
It is expected that the first important talks of the two countries will meet a high-level Chinese delegation in Switzerland this weekend as Trump sparked severe tariffs and trade wars on imports.
The US president mentioned Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent on his social media account on Friday morning, writing “China’s 80% tariffs seem right! Until Scott B.”
US trade representatives Bescent and Jamieson Greer will meet their Geneva counterparts in the most senior known conversations between the two countries in a few months, the Trump administration announced this week. This is also rising concern in the US market over the impact of tariffs on the prices and supply of consumer goods.
No country has been hit harder by Trump’s trade war than China, the world’s largest exporter and the second largest economy. When the US President announced tariffs on April 2nd, China retaliated with its own tariffs. This is a move Trump saw as indicating a lack of respect. Since then, tariffs on each other’s goods have increased, with US tariffs currently at 145% and China’s tariffs at 125%.
China’s trade with the US fell in April even if total exports broke forecasts, official figures showed as trade representatives from both countries prepared to meet this weekend in the midst of a tough trade war between superpower rivals.
Exports to the US – One of China’s top trading partners fell 17.6% in April, data shows. Against this backdrop, analysts voted by Bloomberg were expected to see exports rise by just 2% year-on-year. But they beat expectations and are in at 8.1%.
“The damages to US tariffs are not listed in the April trade data,” said Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at PinPoint Asset Management, in a memo.
“This could be partly due to transportation through other countries, and partly due to trade contracts signed before the tariffs were announced,” he added.
“We expect trade data to gradually weaken over the next few months.”
Since Trump’s round of tariffs on China, trade between the two largest economies in the world has slowed considerably. Many Chinese products currently have levied to 145%, with the cumulative obligation for some products being an astounding 245%.
Beijing, along with other measures targeting US companies, is responding with a 125% tariff on imports of US goods.
Bescent and trade representative Jamieson Greer are scheduled to meet Swiss China’s vice president, his Reifen, on Saturday and Sunday, marking the first meeting between the superpowers since Trump announced his tariffs.
On Thursday, the UK will be the first to announce a contract with the US to reduce duties on UK cars and lift it with steel and aluminum, and in return the UK will open markets for US beef and other produce.
However, analysts said traders were more excited by the Republican leader’s comments on upcoming talks with China that suggested it would ease strict measures targeting the world’s second largest economy.
Trump told reporters he thought the negotiations were “substantial” and when asked if he could have said that reducing collections was “possible.”
“We’re going to see. Now you can’t get any higher than this. It’s 145% so I know it’s coming down. I think we have a very good relationship.”
On Friday, Deputy Minister Hua Chany said he is completely confident in China’s ability to manage US trade issues.
“We have no fear,” Hua told reporters, adding that the US administration’s trade policy could be maintained. “We don’t want to fight any country. But we have to face reality. As you can see, people are completely confident in their ability to overcome all the difficulties…the average people in the United States already feel that they are struggling with the tariff war.”
Economic data for April showed China’s imports fell by 0.2% and 0.2%, compared to estimates by 6% slide analysts. Purchases from overseas have been closely monitored as a measure of consumer demand in China, but this is behind.
Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse