China vows to defend 'justice' in looming trade talks with US
A drone view shows shipping containers from China at the Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro, California, US, May 1, 2025. (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Blake)
BEIJING: China vowed Wednesday (May 7) to defend "justice" in upcoming trade talks with the United States - their first since President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs that shook global markets.
Since Trump returned to the White House in January, his administration has levied new tariffs totalling 145 per cent on goods from China, with some sector-specific measures stacked on top.
Beijing retaliated by slapping 125 per cent levies on US imports to China, along with more targeted measures.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer will attend the talks in Switzerland on behalf of the US, their offices said.
Bessent told Fox News that the sides would hold meetings on Saturday and Sunday intended to lay the groundwork for future negotiations.
"We will agree what we're going to talk about. My sense is that this will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal," Bessent told The Ingraham Angle show.
"We've got to de-escalate before we can move forward," he added.
The talks will take place in Geneva, a spokesperson for the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed with AFP.
Bern "welcomes the trust placed in Switzerland", they added.
Vice Premier He Lifeng will attend on Beijing's behalf, China's foreign ministry announced.
The commerce ministry in Beijing vowed the country would "defend justice" and stand by its principles during the talks.
"If the US wants to resolve the issue through negotiations, it must face up to the serious negative impact of unilateral tariff measures on itself and the world," a ministry spokesperson said.
"If the US talks in one way and acts in another, or even attempts to continue to coerce and blackmail China under the guise of talks, China will never agree," they added.
Beijing, the spokesperson vowed, would not "sacrifice its principled position and international fairness and justice to seek any agreement".
The USTR announced that Greer would also meet with "his counterpart from the People's Republic of China to discuss trade matters", without naming He.
The tit-for-tat tariffs have left the two nations with cripplingly high levies that have shocked financial markets and reportedly caused a sharp slowdown in bilateral trade.
"This isn't sustainable, as I have said before, especially on the Chinese side. 145 per cent, 125 per cent is the equivalent of an embargo. We don't want to decouple. What we want is fair trade," Bessent said.
