Greer Floats More US-China Trade Talks Before Trump’s April Trip
(Bloomberg) — US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer floated another potential round of trade negotiations with China ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned meeting in April with his counterpart Xi Jinping.
“There’s a chance that we might meet before then and try to have some kind of further agreement on things we can trade between us that are non-sensitive,” Greer told reporters on Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the annual World Economic Forum.
He spoke after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held an informal meeting on Monday in Davos with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. Bessent and He have been the primary negotiators for the world’s two largest economies during a period of heightened trade tensions that saw tariff rates on each nation’s goods climb to well above 100%.
Their meeting in Geneva last May kicked off a series of talks that saw follow-on sessions in London, Stockholm, Madrid and Kuala Lumpur, resulting in a truce under which Washington and Beijing lowered tariffs and export restrictions.
Greer suggested the next round could move past highly sensitive issues such as technology competition and China’s supply of the rare earth magnets that are vital to global industrial supply chains.
“Let’s not get bogged down in export controls and investment and all these really sensitive areas that bear on high tech and national security — but let’s talk about basic goods and services,” Greer said.
Not ‘On Hold’
Asked if the current one-year truce between the US and China meant the Trump administration would hold off on taking any competitive actions against China, Greer said: “China policy is not on hold.”
“You’ll see that all of that normal export control work will continue,” the US trade representative added, citing a recent move by the Trump administration to restrict foreign drones.
Bessent said China has made good on an agreement to buy US soybeans and the two nations are looking forward to 25 million tons getting purchased in the coming year. But he suggested the Chinese should “buy a little more” because Trump always raises that subject in meetings with Xi.
Bessent also said that rare earth magnets, which were a key sticking point in the 2025 trade negotiations — and a key point of leverage for Beijing — have been “flowing as expected” with a fulfillment rate that’s “in the 90s, which I think is quite satisfactory.”
Bessent’s Meetings
“I had a meeting with my Chinese counterpart here in Davos last night,” Bessent said Tuesday on Fox Business. “They’ve done everything that they said they’re going to do.”
Bessent said earlier that, while in Davos, he also was planning to meet Swiss President Guy Parmelin.
“He is a very seasoned trade hand,” Bessent said. “The Swiss-US trade agreement is well along the road and progressing very well.”
Bessent said he was planning to meet with a range of public and private sector officials while attending the forum, including non-US CEOs.
Earlier: China’s Top Trade Negotiator Slated to Meet Global CEOs in Davos
–With assistance from Maria Luiza Rabello.
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