A container ship docked at the Port of Long Beach in California. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Bloomberg)
Washington: US President Donald Trump suggested today the possibility of reducing tariffs on China from 145 percent to 80 percent, ahead of negotiations between the two countries to be held in Switzerland to discuss their trade relationship.
The US President wrote in a post on his platform, Truth Social, that "80 percent on China seems right."
He added that the decision is up to US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, the head of the US negotiating delegation, who will meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng this week in Geneva, in an effort to calm tensions in global markets.
In another post, the US President said that China should open its markets to the United States, adding that this would be very beneficial for them, as "closed markets don't work anymore," he said.
Trade tensions between the world's two largest economies have escalated since US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping tariff campaign against Chinese goods, raising US tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 percent. Beijing responded with retaliatory tariffs of 125 percent on US products.
