The trade talks between senior U.S. and Chinese officials scheduled for this weekend in Geneva, Switzerland, are "a positive and constructive step toward de-escalation," said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Friday.
"A sustained dialogue between the two largest economies in the world is essential to ease trade tensions, prevent fragmentation along geopolitical lines, and preserve global growth," added a spokesperson for the World Trade Organization in a brief statement.
Scott Bessent, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, is set to restart dialogue with China, represented by its Vice Premier He Lifeng.
These are the highest-level talks between the two economic powers since the U.S. President Donald Trump triggered a trade war upon returning to the White House at the beginning of the year.
Since then, the two giants have been clashing, responding tit-for-tat with ever-higher tariffs on each other's products, causing turmoil in their respective economies as well as globally.
The Geneva talks – at the request of the Americans according to China – are shrouded in secrecy. Neither the timing, the location, nor the exact agenda of the discussions have been made public.
The two parties will meet on Saturday and Sunday to lay the groundwork for future negotiations, Bessent explained on Fox News Tuesday.
"I expect that we will talk about de-escalation, not a big trade deal," he said. "We need de-escalation before we can move forward."
AFP
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