BEIJING: China said on Wednesday the door was “wide open” for trade talks with Washington, a day after US President Donald Trump signalled the possibility of a “substantial” lowering of tariffs on Beijing.

Bringing further relief to global markets spooked by his aggressive trade policies, Trump also announced he had no intention of firing US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has imposed additional tariffs of 145 per cent on many products from China. These include duties initially imposed over China’s alleged role in the fentanyl supply chain and later over practices Washington deemed unfair.

Beijing has responded with sweeping counter-tariffs of 125pc on US goods, but said it was willing to engage in trade talks. “China pointed out early on that there are no winners in tariff wars and trade wars,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a daily news conference in Beijing. “The door for talks is wide open.”

Xi warns trade wars undermine legitimate rights and interests of all countries, impact world economic order

Chinese President Xi Jinping also warned on Wednesday that trade wars “undermine the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, hurt the multilateral trading system and impact the world economic order”, state media said.

The reiteration from Beijing comes after Trump acknowledged that 145pc was a “very high” level and that would “come down substantially”. “They will not be anywhere near that number” but “it won’t be zero”, he said.

“Ultimately, they have to make a deal because otherwise, they’re not going to be able to deal in the United States.” Those comments came after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a closed-door event on Tuesday that the tariffs amounted to a reciprocal trade embargo. Bessent said he expected a de-escalation in the near future, according to a person who was in the room.

Such a development should bring markets some relief, he added at the JPMorgan Chase-hosted event.

‘Doing very well’

Bessent said there was much to be done at the end of the day with Beijing but he noted the need for fair trade and said China needed to rebalance its economy.

The Treasury chief stressed that the goal is not to decouple with China, noting that container bookings between both countries have slumped recently as trade tensions heated up.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters that Washington was “doing very well in respect to a potential trade deal with China”.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2025