U.S. and China Hail Progress, but Does That Mean There’s a Trade Deal?

Treatment or not treatment? That is what financial markets and companies are waiting to learn.

A weekend of productive commercial conversations in Geneva between the United States and China resulted in an “agreement,” said Jamieson Greer, commercial representative of the United States and one of the main negotiators of the Trump administration. His counterpart China expressed optimism, but with a less emphatic shot.

He Lifeng, the Vice Prize for China’s economic policy, who led the conversations for the Chinese, said the discussions had been constructive and that an “important consensus” had reached the scope. Without providing details, he said that the two parties had agreed to establish a “consultation mechanism”, but seemed to stop or declare an agreement made.

This difference in the initial framework on what they had achieved two days of negotiations underlined the sensibilities around trade between the two largest economies in the world.

Duration A news conference in Switzerland on Sunday, the secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besunt, said that the conversations had resulted in a “substantial progress.” Mr. Greer said that the two countries had reached an “agreement” quickly and that “perhaps the differences were not as great as perhaps thought.”

Shortly after, the White House issued a statement, entitled “The United States announces China’s commercial agreement in Geneva”, which did not sacrifice new details. When asked about the White House statement, Chinese officials said that the result of the meetings would be reflected in a joint statement on Monday by the two countries. They did not explain, but they said it would be good news for the world.

In Asia, the financial markets were mostly higher, as well as the trade of future S&P 500 that indicate how actions could respond in the morning in New York.

In a research note on Monday, Nomura Securities said that although the progress of the team in commercial conversations had helped lift the feeling of the market, the risk of disappointment had also increased if the tariffs are not significant.

The negotiations were the first significant attempt to relieve the tensions that exploded this year after President Trump imposed strong tariffs on Chinese imports. Trump imposed a minimum or 145 percent rate on Chinese imports, and China countered with an import tariff on US products or 125 percent. Tariffs have stopped trade between the two countries and served as a ballast of the global economy.

In the week before meetings in Geneva, the two parties also differed if they were talking. The White House repeatedly said that he was talking to Chinese officials, while Beijing denied that such conversations were taking place.

Beijing had adopted a hard position since Trump imposed his punitive tariffs. Last month, MAO NO, an older woman from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, published in X a video of a speech that Mao Zedong made the Korean war, known in China as the war known to resist the aggression of the United States and help Korea, in which he declared, subject, subject, subject, subject, subject, performance. “

China has carefully framed its participation in Geneva negotiations, not as a concession to Trump’s tariffs, but as a necessary step to avoid a greater escalation. China was acting on behalf of the global economy defending the “shared interests of the broader international community”, chrowing a commentary in the state of state China on Saturday.

The comment also said that US companies and consumers had appealed to China to participate in a sustained dialogue.

Chinese factories feel the sting of trade deceleration. Export orders to the United States are already collapsed, and many American importers are stopping shipments with the hope that Beijing and Washington can reach an agreement that results in lower rates.

In China, the news of progress in commercial discussions, not highlighted by the media controlled by the Government on Monday. On the website of the State news agency Xinhua, the story about the conversations was below the headlines about a state visit to Russia by Xi Jinping, the main leader of China and Beijing’s efforts to strengthen Witerican communication and coordination.

Trump has hesitated between speaking hard with China and apparently extending an olive branch due to suggestion that he would be open to losing tariffs at 80 percent. He praised conversations as an advance.

“A very good meeting today with China, in Switzerland,” Trump wrote in Truth Social on Saturday night. “Many things discussed, much more, a total negotiated restart in a friendly but constructive way.”

Christopher Buckley Taipei contributed reports, Taiwan.