Duties, Bessent after US-China talks: “Substantial progress”. Greer speaks of “agreement”

MILAN – The second round of talks in Geneva between the delegations of the United States and China, to try to find a truce on the trade front, marks “substantial progress”. So much so that the American ranks are talking about an “agreement” reached. The leaders of the American delegation in Switzerland reported it: the American Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent , and the US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer .

Bessent spoke of “substantial progress,” deferring details to Monday. Greer wanted to emphasize to reporters the importance of “the speed with which we were able to reach an agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not as great as perhaps people thought .”

He added: "The President (Trump, ed. ) declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs, and we are confident that the agreement we reached with our Chinese partners will help us address the national emergency" that is, it will help reduce the United States' $1.2 trillion global trade deficit.

The words of the American president, Donald Trump , who Bessent specified to have been fully informed, thus seem to be confirmed. The US president, in the Italian night and therefore at the end of the first round of talks on Saturday, had spoken on the social Truth of "great progress" and of the possibility of a "total reset" after the escalation with tariffs reaching 145% towards Beijing (which responds with 125%). Greer spoke of his Chinese counterparts as very tough negotiators, explaining that the group had "worked very diligently".

China sent Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng , considered a Xi loyalist, accompanied by Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong , whose presence is linked to the issue of Fentanyl, the “zombie drug” that the Trump administration has put at the top of the emergency agenda to be blocked.

Before Bessent's comments, there had been optimism about the success of the negotiations by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. "We are optimistic that things will work out," the US secretary said in an interview with CNN . "It's really important for the United States. It's important for China," Lutnick stressed, assuring that the American delegation would work "hard" to reach an agreement. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said that the Chinese are "very, very eager" to engage in talks aimed at rebalancing trade relations with the United States. Hassett, speaking to Fox News, also added that other trade agreements with other countries could come as soon as this week.

During the first day of talks on Saturday, China acknowledged, through the official Xinhua news agency, that the opening of the table is an “important step” but also reiterated its hard line, assuring that China “will firmly reject any proposal that compromises fundamental principles or undermines the broader cause of global equity .”

Of course, the stalemate generated by the trade standoff has probably convinced everyone to return to more moderate counsel: if at first Beijing even excluded the idea of ​​sitting down at a table while the tariffs were in force, then both sides recognized the opportunity to reduce tensions. And from there to actual talks it was a short step. The Trump administration was certainly burdened by pressure from the world of finance and large corporations , which have repeatedly noted how the uncertainty did not allow them to plan their business and have started to take into account price increases to be passed on to consumers. Furthermore, this week, data on the growth of consumer prices in April (seen accelerating by 0.3%) and then retail sales are expected. They could record the first effects of the trade war and push further for a