LOC19:08
16:08 GMT
GENEVA, May 10 (KUNA) -- A High-level trade Talks between the United States and China began Saturday morning in Geneva -- hosted by the Swiss government -- in an atmosphere of notable media silence from both delegations.
According to China's official news agency (Xinhua) the talks began earlier today in Geneva bringing together U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accompanied by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party's Central Committee and Beijing's lead official on economic and trade issues with Washington.
Both countries had previously announced in separate statements their intention to travel to Switzerland for bilateral talks at the invitation of the Swiss government.
Negotiations are expected to continue through Sunday after which Washington and Beijing will issue press statements outlining the results of the talks according to responses from both delegations received by the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
In a related development, Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter underscored the importance of the USA China talks during a press conference on Friday noting that the talks come at a time of heightened tensions between the two global powers-tensions that have had a notable impact on the global economy.
President Keller-Sutter also announced that she and her deputy Economy Minister Guy Parmelin held separate bilateral meetings with the USA and Chinese delegations to discuss bilateral economic relations describing the exchanges as "productive."
The USA and China trade relations have been under tension since President Donald Trump announced that he would impose tariffs on Chinese imports raising them to as high as 145 percent. China responded by increasing tariffs on US. goods with some tariffs reaching 125 percent. (end)
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