OAN Staff Blake Wolf
8:50 AM – Sunday, May 11, 2025
President Donald Trump has voiced optimism about striking a trade deal with China after initial talks in Geneva on Saturday, suggesting a possible “total reset” in trade relations between the two nations.
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“A very good meeting today with China, in Switzerland. Many things discussed, much agreed to. A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner. We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!” Trump wrote on Saturday night in a Truth Social post.
The two nations are set to continue negotiations on Sunday, although China’s official news agency stated that negotiations “should never be a pretext for continued coercion or extortion, and China will firmly reject any proposal that compromises core principles or undermines the broader cause of global equity.”
The trade negotiations followed after President Trump ordered for a 145% tariff on Chinese exports into the U.S., to which China responded with 125% tariffs on U.S. exports into China.
President Trump has repeatedly argued that tariffs could balance the $1.2 trillion trade deficit seen in 2024, while incentivizing the return goods being manufactured domestically.
Prior to the roughly seven hour talks on Saturday, Trump suggested lowering the tariffs on China to “80%,” however White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that China would need to make concessions in order for the U.S. to lower its tariffs.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated on Friday that the president “would like to work it out with China … he’d like to de-escalate it. But look, he’s not going to live with a trillion-dollar deficit.”
“So the idea is de-escalate, but let’s get China trade right, and let’s get trade deals with the rest of the world,” he added. “Let’s cut our trade deficit down. Let’s grow our GDP.”
Additionally, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted in April that China faces greater pressure to secure a trade deal, as their exports to the U.S. are nearly five times higher than U.S. exports to China, with the sky high tariffs potentially costing China up to 10 million jobs.
“Even if there is a drop in the tariffs, they could lose 5 million jobs,” Bessent stated. “Remember that we are the deficit country. They sell almost five times more goods to us than we sell to them. So, the onus will be on them to take off these tariffs.”
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