US-China agree to ‘trade consultation mechanism’, conduct further talks, He Lifeng says

US trade officials said they struck a deal during two days of crunch talks with senior Chinese officials in Geneva, after negotiations aimed at calming a blazing tariff war ended on Sunday evening local time.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who took part in the talks with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and two Chinese vice-ministers, described the conclusion as “a deal we struck with our Chinese partners”.

“And 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,” Greer said, according to a White House release.

“Just remember why we’re here in the first place – the United States has a massive US$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,” Greer said.

Bessent said the US would announce details of developments on Monday and confirmed that the negotiating team had spoken to US President Donald Trump after the first day of talks on Saturday.

“I’m happy to report that we’ve made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” Bessent said.