Washington 'optimistic' amid trade talks with China

 
GENEVA, May 11: Washington expressed optimism as talks with top Chinese officials continued for a second day Sunday in a bid to de-escalate trade tensions sparked by President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff rollout.

As the two days of high-level negotiations in Geneva neared an end, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN Sunday the administration was "optimistic that things will work out well".

That comment came after Trump posted on Truth Social following the first day of negotiations that Saturday's discussions had been "very good", deeming them "a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner".

Beijing had yet to comment Sunday, but on Saturday Chinese state news agency Xinhua described the talks as "an important step in promoting the resolution of the issue".

The closed-door meetings between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are taking place at the residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

After taking a two-hour lunch break, the delegations returned to the discrete villa with sky-blue shutters on the left bank of Lake Geneva at around 3:30 pm (1330 GMT), according to an AFP journalist on site.

Lutnick told CNN the teams were hard at work on negotiations that are "really important" for both sides, but did not provide further detail on the contents of the talks.    �"AFP