https://archive.is/FKuhi (reuters)
https://archive.is/MIdNc (afp)
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met for about eight hours with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Geneva in their first face-to-face meeting since the world’s two largest economies heaped tariffs well above 100% on each other’s goods.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that an 80% tariff on Chinese goods “seems right”, suggesting for the first time a specific alternative to the 145% levies he has imposed on Chinese imports.
Neither side made any statements about the substance of the discussions nor signaled any progress towards reducing crushing tariffs as meetings at the residence of Switzerland’s ambassador to the U.N. concluded at about 8 p.m. local time. (1800 GMT)
The discussions are expected to restart on Sunday in the Swiss city, according to an individual familiar with the talks, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The 80% number is just something that Trump posted on his social media early on Friday morning, before any meeting ever happened.
UPDATE Trump posted on truthsocial, 1 hour ago. He describes the meeting with the phrases “total reset” and “great progress”. I won’t believe this until I hear the perspective from China’s government.
Yes, when unconstrained by the neoliberal framework. This is why I said a Marshall Plan with Chinese characteristics is one way to fundamentally resolve the problem.
It is more elaborate than just “print money” though as it has to be fiscally targeted. MMT suggests a price anchor through Jobs Guarantee, and the USSR under Stalin had a dual circuit monetary system to target development while preventing inflation. Both are very similar in concept though differing in implementation.
And if you look at the consumption stimulus program that Chinese government has unveiled recently, apart from more subsidies (which will temporarily boost sales but not a permanent fix), it’s still very much the “look our household debt to GDP ratio is still lower than Western countries and Japan, let’s lower credit requirements so people can borrow more to consume.” Anything to avoid directly raising the income of the working class (except in small doses).