Che Friday, Donald Trump said that 80 % customs duties on Chinese products “seem appropriate”, suggesting for the first time a specific alternative to the rates of 145 % he imposed on Chinese imports, before the negotiations scheduled for this weekend between the two countries.
The secretary of the American Treasury, Scott Bessent, and the American representative in trade, Jamieson Greer, will meet the Tsar of the Chinese economy, He Lifeng, in Switzerland, to discuss the contribution of the trade war between the two biggest economies in the world. It could be the first step towards the resolution of a harmful conflict which has already tangled the world supply chains.
“It is a figure that the president launched”
Asked about how the president reached this figure of 80 %, the spokesperson for the White House, Karoline Leavitt, said: “It is a figure that the president launched, and we will see what will happen this weekend”. Donald Trump will not unilaterally impose customs duties on China, she said. “We must also obtain concessions from them”.
China will also send a senior Public Security official to Geneva negotiations, a source said to projects. This development, first reported by the Wall Street Journaltestifies to the importance of the question of fentanyl trafficking for negotiations and wider relations between the United States and China. Donald Trump cited the scourge of fentanyl to justify the taxation of taxes on products from China, Canada and Mexico at the start of the year.
A rate of 80 % remains too high for Beijing
Even if a rate of 80 % represents only half of the current rate, it remains extraordinarily high, even higher than the high rate of 60 % that Trump had offered during his presidential campaign last year. It is not certain that China will welcome it favorably in the context of what Bessent has already described as effective commercial embargo between the two countries.
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Answer
The level of customs duties – and not only for China – is at the heart of investors’ concerns, shaken by months of financial market volatility due to the chaotic deployment of Donald Trump aggressive commercial policies.
The American actions, which have recovered a large part of their losses since the record in mid-February, ended the week slightly down after a calm session on Friday. The dollar has weakened compared to a basket of currencies from the main business partners.
