Trump floats cutting China tariffs to 80% ahead of meeting as he looks to deescalate trade war

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Friday floated cutting tariffs on China from 145% to 80% ahead of a weekend meeting as he looks to de-escalate the trade war.

Top U.S. officials are set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend in Switzerland in the first major talks between the two nations since Trump sparked a trade war with stiff tariffs on imports.

"80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B," Trump wrote on his social media account on Friday morning, referring to Scott Bessent, his Treasury chief, who has been a point person on trade.

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Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their counterparts in Geneva in the most-senior known conversations between the two countries in months, the Trump administration announced this week. It comes amid growing U.S. market worry over the impact of the tariffs on the prices and supply of consumer goods.

No country has been hit harder by Trump's trade war than China, the world's biggest exporter and second-largest economy. When Trump announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs on April 2, China retaliated with tariffs of its own, a move that Trump viewed as demonstrating a lack of respect. The tariffs on each other's goods have been mounting since then, with the U.S. tariffs against China now at 145% and China tariffs on the U.S. at 125%.