US and Chinese officials are set to begin talks this week to try to ease tensions in a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will attend the talks in Switzerland from May 9 to 12, China’s Foreign Ministry said, according to the Telegraph.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer will represent Washington at the meeting, their offices said.

Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has imposed new import tariffs on Chinese goods of up to 145%. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs on some US goods of up to 125%.

But global trade experts have told the BBC they expect the negotiations to take several months.

It will be the first high-level interaction between the two countries since Chinese Vice President Han Zheng attended Trump’s inauguration in January.

Bessent said he looks forward to rebalancing the international economic system to better serve U.S. interests.

“My feeling is that this will be about easing tensions, not about a big trade deal, but we need to ease tensions before moving forward,” he said in an interview with Fox News.

“If the United States wants to resolve the issue through negotiations, it must face the serious negative impact of unilateral tariff measures on itself and the world,” a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday morning.

Chinese state media reported that Beijing had decided to engage with the U.S. after fully considering global expectations, domestic interests and calls from U.S. businesses.

The report added that China is open to talks, but reiterated that if the country decides to continue fighting this trade war – it will fight to the end.

The trade war has caused turmoil in financial markets and sent shockwaves throughout global trade.