'China, US agree to set up economic, trade consultation mechanism'

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng has said that China and the US have reached a series of major consensuses and agreed to establish an economic and trade consultation mechanism. He described the high-level meeting between China and the US in Switzerland's Geneva on economic and trade affairs as "candid and constructive."

He said that China and the US should adopt a practical attitude to solving problems, conduct candid dialogues and equal consultations, manage differences, explore cooperation potential, and strengthen cooperation to push for new development in economic and trade relations between the two nations, according to the statement shared by the Chinese Embassy in the US on X. 

In a post on X, Chinese Embassy in US stated, "Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng: The #China-#US high-level meeting on economic and trade affairs were in-depth, candid and constructive. The two sides have reached a series of major consensuses and have also agreed to establish an economic and trade consultation mechanism. China is ready to work with the United States to actively implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state during their phone call on Jan. 17."

"The two sides should follow a practical attitude for solving problems, carry out candid dialogues and equal consultations, manage differences, explore cooperation potential, extend the list of cooperation list, and make the pie of cooperation bigger, so as to push for new development in China-U.S. economic and trade relations, and inject more certainty and stability into the world economy," it added.

Earlier on Sunday, the US announced a trade deal with China in Geneva. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said there has been substantial progress between the nations.

"I'm happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks. First, I want to thank our Swiss host. The Swiss government has been very kind in providing us this wonderful venue, and I think that led to a great deal of productivity we've seen. We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive," the White House quoted Bessent as saying. 

"We had the vice premier, two vice ministers, who were integrally involved, Ambassador Jamieson, and myself. And I spoke to President Trump, as did Ambassador Jamieson, last night, and he is fully informed of what is going on. So, there will be a complete briefing tomorrow morning," the statement added.

US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer said that the parties came to a conclusion very quickly and noted that a lot of groundwork went into these two days.

"This was, as the Secretary pointed out, a very constructive two days. It's important to understand how quickly we were able to come to agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought. That being said, there was a lot of groundwork that went into these two days. Just remember why we're here in the first place -- the United States has a massive USD 1.2 trillion trade deficit, so the President declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs, and we're confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency," the White House quoted Greer as saying.

US President Donald Trump indicated he is open to significantly reducing the 145 per cent tariff imposed by the US on Chinese goods. Trump said an 80 per cent tariff on China "seems right," adding that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would make the final decision.