What’s at Stake in the Ongoing US-China Trade Talks?

 It’s been a while since the United States and China have held direct trade talks — but those may be coming soon. If he can, Treasury Secretary Bessent is trying to get China to resume the conversation which the U.S. wants to start.

Bessent had recently announced he’s traveling to Europe to meet with people in Switzerland. China’s trade officials will just be there too. Both sides agreed they would be in the same place and so they’ve agreed to meet this coming Saturday and Sunday.

But Bessent said the U.S. doesn’t want to cut trade ties with China. “What we want is fair trade” he said instead. Not everyone however agrees about what that means. For some fair trade may not be China's aim.

Meanwhile the world is now more focused on “de-risking” today. In plain English it means that they want to count less on the U.S. because they think it's a difficult place to deal with to say the least. The talks could be tricky due to the difference of goals between the sides.

In short both sides are meeting again – but it might be the last time they see eye to eye. On one hand the U.S. does not want unfair trade. On the other the others want to cut their risk. It’s still unclear how the talks will turn out.