Trump enthuses about customs summit in Geneva

The talks of the two major powers lasted all weekend. The US President speaks of « great progress ». But what really looked out?

What is completely undisputed after this weekend: there was a lot to discuss between the Chinese Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng and US finance minister Scott Bessent and the US trade delegate Jamieson Greer in Geneva. The talks at the customs summit lasted from Saturday morning to Sunday evening. Interrupted only of extensive breaks for lunch and an overnight stay.

US media professionals with contacts to the American delegation spread the platform X on Sunday afternoon, which Besser and the trade delegated Jamieson Greer said when leaving the negotiation location: Substantial success was achieved. Donald Trump was already talking about this on Saturday. « He is fully informed about what is going on here, » said Bessent.

In fact, the US President was euphoric about the events in Geneva on Saturday evening: « A very good meeting today with China in Switzerland, » he wrote « Truth Social » on his platform. A “Total Reset”, a restart, was negotiated “in a friendly, but (sic!) Constructive way. You want to “open China for US companies for the benefit of China and the USA”. As almost always, capital letters could not be missing: « Great Progress Made !!! »

Fentanyl epidemic is also an issue

To what extent Trump’s exuberance of effective progress was initially not checked. After two rounds of talks on Saturday, none of the pages to the content commented. Although several media professionals – in advance from the USA – were waiting for news before the residence of the constant representative of Switzerland at the UN in Geneva.

In the Feudal Villa in the Nobel Sea of ​​Cologny, Switzerland granted the high -ranking delegations from Washington and Beijing Gastrecht. The noble interior and the park with a view of Lake Geneva contrasted hard with the topic of the talks: the customs war started by Donald Trump on April 3.. The United States has occupied China with penalty tariffs of 145 percent, Beijing replied with counter -tariffs of 125 percent.

The conflict is of global importance: if it is not enclosed, there is a threat of a global economic crisis. The fact that the customs summit of the business superpowers now took place in Geneva is considered a great success of the good services of Swiss diplomacy-from which Switzerland could benefit itself.

For example, Federal President Karin Keller-Sutter and Minister of Economics Guy Parmelin met bilateral with the top of the two delegations on Friday. With the Chinese Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng, the two discussed, among other things, the expansion of the free trade agreement with China.

In conversation with Scott Bessent and Jamieson Greer, the settlement of the customs dispute was on the list of topics. As a reminder: Switzerland was threatened with penalty tariffs of 31 percent from the beginning of July. Until then, a penalty of 10 percent applies. However, the goal is “zero-tölle” with the USA, said Keller-Sutter after the meeting on Friday afternoon. It was confident that the federal government could quickly get into negotiations. First of all, the Federal Council must determine the framework for this. This should be done within one to two weeks.

After the two delegations from China and the USA interrupted their talks on Saturday evening, they resumed negotiations on Sunday at 10 a.m. in the Swiss residence. Still behind closed doors. Nevertheless, various media speculated about possible content of the discussions.

The presence of Wang Xiaohong, China’s Minister of Public Security, causes a stir. This has no direct connection to the customs war, wrote the western Switzerland newspaper « Le Temps ». Based on US media reports, the paper established a connection to fentanyl epidemic in the USA. The strong opioid reaches the United States via Mexican drug cartels. Chemical forecasters from China are used for its production. The USA has long been pushing China to prevent corresponding deliveries.

In the “Wall Street Journal”, an expert explained: “Wang’s presence means that Fentanyl is not only a topic that is discussed, but also a key element in the trade talks between the USA and China.»

After completing the talks, Finance Minister Greer hardly let himself be found in the cards: The content of the talks will be informed on Monday as part of a media briefing. The trade officer Greer said a little more: one had quickly got an agreement. This shows that the differences were not as big as originally thought. After all, he thanked Switzerland and its government for hospitality and organizing the meeting. Everything worked out perfectly, « we appreciate that ».