US, China begin negotiation on easing trade war

China's Vice Premier He Lifeng held talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent early on Saturday in Geneva, Switzerland, in a tentative first step towards defusing a trade war that is disrupting the global economy, according to China's state-owned news agency and two people close to the talks.

Bessent and He met after weeks of growing tensions in which duties on imports between the world's two largest economies have soared far beyond 100 per cent.

The trade dispute, combined with U.S. President Donald Trump's decision last month to impose duties on dozens of other countries, has disrupted supply chains, unsettled financial markets and stoked fears of a sharp global downturn.

Trump said on Friday that an 80 per cent tariff on Chinese goods "seems right," suggesting for the first time a specific alternative to the 145 per cent levies imposed on Chinese imports.