United States Talks Trade With Leaders From Canada And China

In the first high-level trade discussions between the two countries since President Donald Trump introduced 145 percent tariffs on Chinese goods and China retaliated with its own duties, officials from the two countries met. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer led the talks, which occurred over the week in Switzerland, for the United States. Vice Premier He Lifeng led negotiations for China.

In advance of the meeting, Secretary Bessent said, “The current tariffs and trade barriers are unsustainable, but we don’t want to decouple. What we want is fair trade.” President Donald Trump followed up that statement with a post on social media suggesting his administration may reduce the blanket tariff rate on Chinese imports to 80 percent.

Neither negotiating party has revealed much about what talks have entailed, but on Saturday President Trump posted on social media saying it was “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.” Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

Earlier in the week, President Trump met himself with another foreign leader hoping to reach a trade deal with the United States: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Here, it seems, there was little progress. More specifically, it does not seem the United States is backing down on tariffs on Canadian goods, including for steel and aluminum products. (As a reminder, readers can find the Metals Service Center Institute’s position on Section 232 tariffs on industrial metals products at this link.) After meeting with Prime Minister Carney, President Trump suggested there was very little Prime Minister Carney could do to convince him to reduce tariffs on Canadian goods. “No,” President Trump said. “Just the way it is.”

Regarding the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA), which will need to be renegotiated this year, President Trump suggested it may not be necessary anymore. “It’s still very effective, but people have to follow it,” the president said. “It was a transitional step, a little bit. As you know, it terminates fairly shortly. It gets renegotiated very shortly.”

President Trump and Prime Minister Carney are next set to meet at a G7 meeting in June.

A few days after the meeting, Canada’s National Post reported that U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said President Trump is evaluating different “concepts” for a trade deal that include keeping the USMCA as a three-party, North American deal or eliminating Mexico from the agreement.

Representing Canada, Ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman said that while her government is eager to eliminate U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, Prime Minister Carney will not agree to a deal that sacrifices “stability and a fair arrangement” for various industries. “It would be great to do it as soon as possible, but not at the expense of getting a deal that is not going to bring us back to a place where we are able to maintain the strength of some of these core sectors that have been affected by these tariffs,” the ambassador said. Read more from The Globe and Mail.