MW U.S. and China conclude two days of 'productive' trade talks, Bessent says
By Mike Murphy
The U.S. and China had "productive" trade negotiations over the weekend, U.S. officials said Sunday, without announcing any further details.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva after two days of talks concluded Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said "substantial progress" had been made. "We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive," he said in a statement.
In the same statement, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer agreed that it was "a very constructive two days. It's important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought."
Also read: Stock-market bulls face inflation test this week, but trade talks may set the tone
No specific details of agreements were revealed, and China had no immediate statement on the talks.
The world's two largest economies are looking to unwind an escalating trade war, after President Donald Trump slapped 145% tariffs against Chinese goods. China responded with 125% tariffs against U.S.-made goods. On Friday, Trump floated the idea of bringing down China's tariff rate to 80%, which would likely still be hugely disruptive. Rand economist Gerard DiPippo said Friday in a social-media post that tariffs "must go below 60%" for a trade deal to succeed.
Stocks fell Friday, as Wall Street warily waited for the outcome of the trade talks. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA slipped 0.2%, the S&P 500 SPX fell 0.5% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq COMP declined 0.3%. All three indexes snapped back-to-back weekly gains.
Trump's tariffs against America's trading partners have already taken a toll on U.S. companies - particularly the auto industry - with billions of dollars lost in corporate profits, according to first-quarter earnings reports. Cargo shipping between the U.S. and China has dropped dramatically, raising fears that some store shelves could soon go empty as retailers aren't able to restock certain imported goods.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last week that Trump's tariffs significantly increase the risk of rising unemployment and higher inflation, but said the Fed does not need to rush any interest-rate cuts until it can get more solid economic data.
The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter, and experts rate the odds of a recession at their highest since late 2022, when the Fed started its rate-cutting cycle.
Also: Opinion: Powell says Trump tariffs could delay inflation progress - and rate cuts - by a year
-Mike Murphy
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May 11, 2025 15:46 ET (19:46 GMT)
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