94Ha Viewpoint
On June 9, local time, the Chinese and American delegations held the first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism in London, UK.
According to the photos released at the meeting, it can be seen that the main members of the US delegation include US Treasury Secretary Bessant, US Trade Representative Greer and US Commerce Secretary Lutnick.
Specifically from the responsibilities of the US delegation:
US Treasury Secretary Bessant is responsible for macroeconomic and financial issues. He is a key figure in the implementation of the Trump administration’s tariff strategy. He has a coordinating role and is responsible for negotiations with many countries.
In February of this year, after the United States imposed the so-called “fentanyl” tariff on China, the Chinese leader of China-US economic and trade relations had a video call with Bessant at the request. China expressed serious concerns during the call.
In the entire economic and trade field between China and the United States, there are many topics that the two sides can talk about. In addition to the concerns of both sides, they also include macroeconomic communication and coordination between the two countries, financial policies, and joint response to global challenges.
Bessant is also very interested in these topics. As a former hedge fund manager, Bessant has been under pressure from the financial market to clarify trade agreements to reduce the impact on the US economy.
The US economy currently has at least four pain points:
(1) Macroeconomic growth is slowing down. The US GDP in the first quarter of 2025 shrank by 0.3% month-on-month.
(2) There is upward pressure on inflation. The US 1-year and 5-year inflation expectations have even soared to 6.7% and 4.4%.
(3) Impact on manufacturing. The tariff policy has not brought a positive impact on the US manufacturing industry. The New York Fed Manufacturing Index has deteriorated to -9.2, which is in the negative range, reflecting that the US manufacturing industry is still in a state of contraction.
(4) Trade slowdown. US imports in April saw the largest drop in history. Due to uncertain tariff changes, US trade has slowed down significantly.
Faced with these uncertainties, Bessant urgently needs to convey certainty to the United States.
Greer’s main jurisdiction is tariffs. He is more like a “professional negotiator” for the US side to handle various trade negotiations.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) led by him has led the 301 investigation in the past and was the direct operator of the Sino-US trade war in 2018. Including 301 investigations, technology transfer, intellectual property disputes, and trade barrier investigations, these are basically within his scope of responsibility.
When Greer took office, the head of China’s economic and trade department sent a congratulatory letter.
A week before the US imposed “reciprocal tariffs”, China had a video call with Greer at the request. At that time, China clearly mentioned that if the US insisted on damaging China’s interests, China would resolutely counter.
Everyone has seen China’s subsequent resolute actions.
The newly joined Lutnick comes from the US Department of Commerce and is relatively more focused on the industry level, such as exports, imports, market access and other issues in various industries.
Before Lutnick became the US Secretary of Commerce, he served as CEO of the US financial company Jianda. He has been calling for lower corporate taxes, less regulation, increased oil production and higher tariffs.
Regarding the issue of tariffs, Lutnick, as one of the architects of the Trump administration’s tariff plan, has said that no matter what trade agreement is reached, every country will continue to pay the global benchmark tariff of at least 10% imposed by the United States.
In May this year, when Lutnick attended an event hosted by the US media, he revealed that he and Trump were painful about the impact of the US tariffs on China in April on US companies, but he said the pain was necessary and insisted that it was countries and companies, not consumers, who paid the tariffs.
Regarding the issue of export controls, the Ministry of Commerce itself is responsible for industry and export controls. According to Bloomberg, Lutnick’s joining the new round of talks may indicate that the United States is willing to reconsider some technological restrictions that may hinder China’s long-term development goals.
Lutnick’s joining also means that China has the right to continue to make comments, explanations and responses on the issue of export controls implemented by the United States.
Regarding the negotiating posture, Lutnick once expressed his views on other countries’ cooperation with China during trade negotiations with other countries, trying to put pressure on other countries to affect their normal trade exchanges with China.
China’s attitude is also clear. China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests. Appeasement cannot bring peace, and compromise cannot be respected. To seek so-called exemptions at the expense of others’ interests for one’s own temporary selfishness is to seek the skin of a tiger, and in the end it will only end in failure, harming others and not benefiting oneself.
Overall, from the current division of labor, the U.S. Treasury Department is in overall coordination, the U.S. Department of Commerce focuses on industry, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) focuses on negotiating technical terms.
CNN said that no one wants the talks to be deadlocked. Before that, China had already made it clear that the U.S. should look at the progress made in a realistic way and withdraw the negative measures taken against China.
