Reuters
In an effort to defuse a trade war between the two largest economies in the world, US and Chinese officials are scheduled to begin negotiations this week.
According to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will be present at the negotiations in Switzerland from May 9–12.
According to their offices, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer will attend the meeting on behalf of Washington.
President Donald Trump has increased import duties on Chinese goods by up to 145% since taking office again. Beijing has hit back with levies on some goods from the US of 125%.
However, the BBC was informed by international trade specialists that they anticipate the negotiations to take several months.
Considering that Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng attended Trump's inauguration in January, this will be the first high-level meeting between the two nations.
In order to better serve the interests of the United States, Mr. Bessent expressed his excitement about rebalancing the global economic system.
In an interview with Fox News, he stated, "I think this will be about de-escalation, not the big trade deal, but we have to de-escalate before we can move forward."
A spokesman for China's commerce ministry stated Wednesday morning that "the United States must own up to the serious negative impact of unilateral tariff measures on itself and the world if it wants to resolve the issue through negotiations."
According to Chinese state media, Beijing made the decision to interact with the US after carefully weighing the demands of American companies, the nation's interests, and international expectations.
China is amenable to negotiations, the report stated, but it reaffirmed that it will fight to the finish if it chooses to maintain this trade war.
Global trade has been rocked by the trade war, which has also caused chaos in financial markets.
At least in the early stages of the negotiations, two trade specialists told the BBC they were not very hopeful.
"I'm not saying it's not worth it, but you have to start somewhere. Deborah Elms, Head of Trade Policy at the Hinrich Foundation, stated that it was "just unlikely to be the launch event people are hoping to see."
A former Chinese lawyer on the World Trade Organization secretariat, Henry Gao, a professor of law at Singapore Management University, stated that "we should expect to see a lot of back and forth, just like what happened last time in 2018."
"I would expect the talks to drag on for several months or even more than a year".
Investors' reactions to the news and Chinese authorities' announcements of economic-supporting measures caused financial markets in Hong Kong and mainland China to rise on Wednesday.
Futures for US stocks also increased. Futures indicate how markets will behave when they open and are contracts to purchase or sell an underlying asset at a later time.
On Wednesday afternoon, investors are also anticipating the US central bank's most recent interest rate announcement.
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