US, China cite ‘substantial progress’ in Geneva trade talks

China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng described the weekend talks with US officials as “substantial progress” in stabilising bilateral trade relations, per Bloomberg. While neither side immediately announced specific measures on Sunday, Lifeng said the US and China agreed to create a mechanism for further talks, led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and himself. Bessent said the US would share details on Monday, and he promised a joint statement. He Lifeng emphasized that the fundamental nature of China-U.S. trade is a mutual win-win, pushing back against zero-sum rhetoric that has recently dominated political discourse. He added that Beijing is prepared to work with Washington to manage differences constructively, expand areas of cooperation, and “make the pie of cooperation bigger.” Market reaction At the press time, the AUD/USD pair is up 0.10% on the day to trade at 0.6417. US-China Trade War FAQs Generally speaking, a trade war is an economic conflict between two or more countries due to extreme protectionism on one end. It implies the creation of trade barriers, such as tariffs, which result in counter-barriers, escalating import costs, and hence the cost of living. An economic conflict between the United States (US) and China began early in 2018, when President Donald Trump set trade barriers on China, claiming unfair commercial practices and intellectual property theft from the Asian giant. China took retaliatory action, imposing tariffs on multiple US goods, such as automobiles and soybeans. Tensions escalated until the two countries signed the US-China Phase One trade deal in January 2020. The agreement required structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime and pretended to restore stability and trust between the two nations. However, the Coronavirus pandemic took the focus out of the conflict. Yet, it is worth mentioning that President Joe Biden, who took office after Trump, kept tariffs in place and even added some additional levies. The return of Donald Trump to the White House as the 47th US President has sparked a fresh wave of tensions between the two countries. During the 2024 election campaign, Trump pledged to impose 60% tariffs on China once he returned to office, which he did on January 20, 2025. With Trump back, the US-China trade war is meant to resume where it was left, with tit-for-tat policies affecting the global economic landscape amid disruptions in global supply chains, resulting in a reduction in spending, particularly investment, and directly feeding into the Consumer Price Index inflation. Source: https://www.fxstreet.com/news/us-china-cite-substantial-progress-in-geneva-trade-talks-bloomberg-202505112252