Overview
- China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng held a video call with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in which he raised “serious concerns” about recent U.S. trade restrictions, Xinhua reported.
- Both sides described the exchange as candid, in-depth, and constructive and agreed to rely on the China‑U.S. economic and trade consultation mechanism and the new Board of Trade to manage disputes and strengthen communication.
- Washington last week imposed new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners for alleged lax enforcement of forced‑labour bans, assigning China a 12.5% rate, and also announced targeted bans on new Chinese robots and power inverters.
- Beijing has formally lodged objections and warned of possible retaliation, and the July discussions were framed as a way to contain immediate tensions while keeping channels open for further negotiation.
- Watch for follow-up meetings of the Board of Trade and consultation mechanism to show whether the talks yield duty cuts on roughly $30 billion of goods or trigger retaliatory measures.