By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with China’s top economic official this week in Switzerland in an initial ice-breaking step towards potential negotiations over President Donald Trump’s tariff assault.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office and Treasury said Greer and Bessent would travel together to Geneva on Thursday and would also meet with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter to discuss negotiations over reciprocal trade.
The Treasury statement said they would meet China’s top economic official without identifying the person by name. But Vice Premier He Lifeng is widely viewed as China’s economic czar and chief trade negotiator. China’s embassy in Washington could not be immediately reached for comment.
U.S. equity index futures jumped on the news as trading resumed following a second straight day of losses on Wall Street. S&P 500 e-mini futures were about 1% higher.
“I look forward to productive talks as we work towards rebalancing the international economic system towards better serving the interests of the United States,” Bessent said in a statement announcing the meetings.
USTR said Greer would also meet with the trade agency’s mission at the World Trade Organization in Geneva.
“At President Trump’s direction, I am negotiating with countries to rebalance our trade relations to achieve reciprocity, open new markets and protect America’s economic and national security,” Greer said in a statement. “I look forward to having productive meetings with some of my counterparts as well as visiting with my team in Geneva who all work diligently to advance U.S. interests on a range of multilateral issues.”
The statements did not describe the meeting with the Chinese officials as the start of negotiations. Washington and Beijing have been locked in a cat-and-mouse game over tariffs, with each side unwilling to be seen to back down in a trade war that has roiled global markets and upended supply chains.
Since taking office in January, Trump has piled up new tariffs on Chinese imports totaling 145% to punish China over unfair trade practices and the U.S. fentanyl crisis. China has responded with 125% retaliatory tariffs. Bessent has called these levels unsustainable and an effective trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies.
(Reporting by David Lawder and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Leslie Adler and Howard Goller)
