Trump Touts ‘Great Progress Made’ in China Trade Talks, ‘Total Reset Negotiated’

Trump Touts ‘Great Progress Made’ in China Trade Talks, ‘Total Reset Negotiated’

In a Saturday evening Truth Social post, President Donald Trump announced that “great progress” had been made on day one of the U.S. trade talks with China. He further claimed that a “total reset” had been “negotiated.”

The U.S. trade team, led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, met with the Chinese delegation, led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, for 10 hours in Geneva, Switzerland, on Saturday. The goal was to break the communications freeze that began with Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs and has deepened as tensions escalated.

“A very good meeting today with China, in Switzerland,” Trump wrote. “Many things discussed, much agreed to. A total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner. We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business. GREAT PROGRESS MADE!!!”

The Associated Press noted that “no major breakthrough was announced” during the discussions. Citing an anonymous official, the AP reported that talks were set to continue on Sunday and that neither delegation spoke to the media following the initial round of negotiations.

According to the AP, a Saturday night editorial from China’s official Xinhua News Agency “said the talks had come about ‘at the request of the U.S. side’ — noting an earlier point of contention — and said China agreed to them ‘after taking full account of global expectations, national interests and appeals from U.S. businesses and consumers.'”

The Xinhua editorial said:

Whether the road ahead involves negotiation or confrontation, one thing is clear: China’s determination to safeguard its development interests is unshakable, and its stance on maintaining the global economic and trade order remains unwavering.

Talks should never be a pretext for continued coercion or extortion, and China will firmly reject any proposal that compromises core principles or undermines the broader cause of global equity.

Trump’s vague but optimistic portrayal of the talks offers little concrete insight into the meeting’s success or failure so far. Even his staunchest supporters, a group that includes me, acknowledge he is prone to exaggeration.

There is hope, however, that both countries will back down from the steep tariffs currently in place—145% on U.S. tariffs for Chinese imports and 125% on Chinese tariffs for U.S. imports.

In a Friday Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “80% Tariff seems right! Up to Scott.″

Realistically, an 80% tariff won’t help the situation all that much. As former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox News host Larry Kudlow last month, once tariffs hit 50%, further increases have limited practical impact. At that point, Ross explained, leaders effectively signal that they no longer seek a trade relationship.

Ahead of the talks, Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, signaled low expectations for the Geneva meetings. She said, “The best scenario is for the two sides to agree to de-escalate on the… tariffs at the same time. It cannot just be words,” as per the AP.

This is essentially what Bessent told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham last week: “My sense is that this will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal. But we’ve got to de-escalate before we can move forward.”

The Left has disparaged Trump’s tariffs from the get-go, and the AP is no exception. The article says, “What seems clear is that Trump’s favorite economic weapon — import taxes, or tariffs — has not proved as mighty as he’d hoped.”

To bolster that assertion, the article quotes Jeff Moon, a trade official in the Obama administration who now runs the China Moon Strategies consultancy. He said, “For Trump, what’s happened here is that the rhetoric of his campaign has finally had to face economic reality. The idea that he was going to bring China to its knees in terms of tariffs was never going to work.”

It’s far too early to make statements like that, especially when numerous reports indicate that China is reeling from the economic strain of the tariffs.

The reality is that Democrats hope that Trump’s tariffs ruin the economy, a sentiment that editorial cartoonist Gary Varvel captured beautifully in a recent cartoon. A Democrat, lying on a psychiatrist’s couch, is asked, “What is your greatest fear?”

His reply? “That Trump’s policies will make America great again.”

Dems' greatest fear.https://t.co/btRZO5f53m pic.twitter.com/O2DCHq50Qg

— varvel (@varvel) May 9, 2025

Let’s give Trump, Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, all people who have built successful businesses in the real world and understand the economy far better than the Obama and Biden administrations’ stable of academics, a chance.

I, for one, would not bet against Trump.

Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.

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