President Donald Trump on Friday floated cutting tariffs on China to 80 percent ahead of a weekend meeting as he looks to deescalate the trade war.
Top US officials are set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend in Switzerland in the first major talks between the two nations since Trump sparked a trade war with stiff tariffs on imports.
“80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B,” Trump wrote on his social media account on Friday morning, referring to Scott Bessent, his Treasury chief, who has been a point person on trade.
Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their counterparts in Geneva in the most-senior known conversations between the two countries in months, the Trump administration announced Tuesday. It comes amid growing US market worry over the impact of the 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 biggest exporter and second largest economy. When Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2, China retaliated with tariffs of its own, a move that Trump viewed as demonstrating a lack of respect. The tariffs on each other’s goods have been mounting since then, with the US tariffs against China now at 145 percent and China tariffs on the US at 125 percent.
