The United States and China are set to hold high-level discussions amid escalating trade tensions as the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to meet a senior Chinese official.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department said Mr Bessent would travel to Switzerland on Thursday to meet with the senior Chinese officials.

While the department did not specify whom he would meet, China’s Commerce Ministry and state media confirmed the talks and named Vice Premier He Lifeng as Beijing’s representative.

According to the Chinese ministry, the decision to hold talks was made in response to global expectations, China’s own economic interests and calls from U.S. industry and consumers.

The meeting will mark the first senior-level contact since the trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies flared up in early April.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said that officials from China want to negotiate an easing of the trade war between the two powers and that talks would take place “at the right time.”

”They want to negotiate, and they want to have a meeting,” he said in the Oval Office alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The Trump administration has imposed tariffs of up to 145 per cent on imports from China, prompting Beijing to retaliate with its own duties of up to 125 per cent on U.S. goods.

Both sides, however, have issued exemptions for items seen as critical, such as certain electronics, in order to mitigate the economic fallout.
Mr Trump has repeatedly made conflicting statements about the status of talks with Beijing.

He previously said there had been exchanges between the two sides, including a telephone call between him and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Beijing denied those claims.

(dpa/NAN)