US-China Trade Talks Begin... Besant and He Lifeng to Meet in Switzerland This Week

The United States and China are set to begin trade negotiations this week. This meeting comes about a month after the U.S. imposed additional tariffs of up to 145% on many Chinese imports, and China retaliated with a 125% import tariff on U.S. products.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced on the 6th (Eastern Time) that Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jameson Greer will visit Switzerland on the 8th (local time) to meet with Chinese representatives. China, in a separate announcement, stated that Vice Premier He Lifeng of the State Council will participate in the negotiations. Secretary Besant expressed hope for productive dialogue as efforts are made to realign the international economic system more in favor of U.S. interests.

President Trump remarked on the same day that "we are not trading with them at all right now, and their economy is suffering greatly," adding, "we are not incurring a deficit by not trading." He further explained, "they want to negotiate, they want to meet, and we will meet them at the appropriate time."

Famed Wall Street investor Paul Tudor Jones predicted in a CNBC interview that "even if President Trump reduces tariffs on China to 50%, it will likely hit a new low." He noted that even with reduced tariffs, it would be the largest tax increase since the 1960s and could lower U.S. economic growth by 2-3 percentage points. He anticipated that "if the New York stock market hits a new low, the Fed and Trump might take action."

New York = Correspondent Hyunseok Kim realist@hankyung.com