US, Chinese Delegations To Meet In Switzerland To Launch Trade Talks; S&P Futures Surge

The US Treasury and the US Trade Rep office announced simultanousely, just after 6pm ET, that the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will travel later this week to Switzerland to meet with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, jump-starting negotiations between the two nations.

The travel was announced in statements Tuesday from the Chinese and US governments. It will be the first confirmed trade talks between the countries since President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs, led by punishing levies on China.

Secretary of the Treasury @SecScottBessent to Travel to Switzerland.

Release: https://t.co/HdFJH9AFjY

— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) May 6, 2025

“Economic security is national security, and President Donald J. Trump is leading the way both at home and abroad for a stronger, more prosperous America,” said Secretary Bessent. 

“I look forward to productive talks as we work towards rebalancing the international economic system towards better serving the interests of the United States.”

US equity futures spiked as much as 1% on the news.

The planned talks could encourage investors eager to see a reduction in tariffs that risk crippling trade between the world’s two largest economies. Trump placed duties as high as 145% on many Chinese imports, and Beijing retaliated with import taxes of 125% on American goods, escalations which rattled markets and threaten to drive up prices for manufacturing equipment as well as affordable goods that many Americans rely on, including clothing and toys.

Trump has said in recent days that he is willing to lower tariffs on China at some point, but also said this week that the US is “losing nothing” by not trading with Beijing. He claimed Chinese ships are “turning around in the Pacific Ocean.” The president has also said American consumers would be willing to accept higher prices and less selection in order to rebalance the trade relationship with China. 

Young girls don’t need “to have 30 dolls,” Trump said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think they can have three dolls or four dolls, because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable.”

China said on Friday it was assessing the possibility of trade talks with the US, the first sign that negotiations could begin between the two sides. 

Earlier Tuesday, Bessent said that while the US could announce trade deals with some partners as soon as this week, negotiations with China had not yet begun.

“China, we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet,” he told lawmakers while testifying on Capitol Hill.

“You have Trump, who’s locked in on tariffs; you have the Fed, who’s locked in on not cutting rates,” said Jones, founder of macro hedge fund Tudor Investment Corp., speaking on CNBC. “That’s not good for the stock market.”

Bessent and Greer will also meet with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, the Treasury Department and USTR said in a pair of statements.