U.S., China hold first call since Geneva meeting, signaling progress in trade talks

The U.S. and China agreed to keep lines of communication open, following a call between senior officials Thursday, signaling continued high-level engagement as both sides work toward a broader deal.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau exchanged views on a range of key issues during the call, both sides said in closely aligned statements released Friday, without specifying whether tariffs were among the topics discussed.

While the call may not indicate a breakthrough in the ongoing trade talks, it is a “positive sign” that Beijing now knows who to talk to on the U.S. side, said Dan Wang, China director at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, adding that “the communication channel established in the Geneva talks is working.”

Following the high-level talks in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier this month, both sides issued a rare joint statement to temporarily lower most tariffs on each other’s goods, while working toward a broader agreement.

The last time both sides issued a joint statement was in November 2023, which focused on climate cooperation.

The call between Ma and Landau was the second diplomatic-level call between the U.S. and China during U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, said Xinbo Wu, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in January after Trump returned to the office.

The Thursday call signals that both sides are “reconnecting” on the diplomatic level and may be preparing for upcoming talks on Beijing’s cooperation in curbing fentanyl flows, Wu said.

Earlier this week, Ma had met with the new U.S. Ambassador to China, David Perdue, signaling that Beijing hopes to align more closely with the U.S. in the ongoing trade discussion, according to a readout of the meeting.

In that meeting, Perdue said he had shared Trump’s priorities for the bilateral relations, according to a post on his X account. “I look forward to working with the Ministry and counterparts to achieve concrete outcomes for the American people,” he said in the post.

Trump has made it a priority to curb the flow of fentanyl precursors from China, which are used to make the deadly opioid. He has also urged Beijing to open up its markets to the U.S.

Perdue’s arrival in Beijing came as a trade war between the world’s two largest economies had stoked fears of a broader “decoupling.”

Chinese exporters are looking to diversify away from the U.S. market, according to industry surveys and economists, undeterred by the temporary tariff truce, while American firms accelerate efforts to shift production out of China.

In a separate meeting with JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon on Thursday, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said the negotiations with the U.S. on economic and trade issues have “made substantial progress,” stressing Beijing’s stance of intending to further open up the market for American businesses to operate in China.

Yuyuantantian, a social media account affiliated with Chinese state media CCTV, claimed Dimon said in meetings with Chinese officials that the U.S. government does not want to decouple with China.

Despite the recent de-escalation following the Geneva talks, Beijing and Washington have continued to trade barbs.

Chinese authorities have pushed back against a U.S. decision that warned companies not to use Chinese-made artificial intelligence chips, particularly those provided by Huawei Technologies.

The latest dispute over the usage of Chinese semiconductor chips underscored the “inevitable clash” between the two countries in certain strategic sectors, Nomura analysts said in a note Friday.

“Strategic decoupling remains inevitable,” the analysts said, expecting the Trump administration to use more targeted sectoral tariffs and non-tariff measures aimed at containing China’s access to advanced technology. In response, China might tighten its export controls on rare earths to the U.S., Nomura said.

China’s Ministry of Commerce earlier this week called the move “unilateral bullying” and blamed the U.S. for undermining trade talks, vowing to take resolute measures to protect its rights and interests.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the call was with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.