The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on May 7 during an interview with Fox News that "the meeting between the United States and China will take place this weekend in Switzerland, mainly to ease the situation first." The host asked who made the first call? He believed there was no "first call".

Yellen also said: "The world is moving closer to the United States, but China has become the missing piece of the puzzle. I was going to negotiate with the Swiss, only to find that the Chinese team was traveling in Europe and would also go to Switzerland. So, we will meet this weekend. Moreover, we have common interests... We don't want to decouple, what we want is fair trade."

It should be noted that Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian responded to the arrangements for high-level economic and trade talks between China and the United States on May 7 at a regular press conference, clearly stating that this talk was held at the request of the US side.

To comment: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attempted to downplay the fact that it was the US side that actively sought to ease the situation, denied the existence of the "first call", insisted that this talk was due to "coincidence", and used the fact that the Chinese team was traveling in Europe as a reason for the meeting. This rhetoric is merely a self-deceiving "fig leaf" to avoid showing a posture of seeking talks in the international public opinion arena, maintain its so-called "hegemonic dignity", and prevent outsiders from thinking that the US is "softening" or "bowing under pressure" in the tariff war and economic friction.

In fact, the US cannot bear the great pressure brought by the tariff war. American consumers bear the high cost of tariffs, enterprises face supply chain chaos and rising costs, domestic inflation pressure intensifies, and economic growth momentum weakens. Under such circumstances, the US has to seek talks with China to ease the situation. Yellen emphasized "not wanting to decouple and wanting fair trade", which is actually the US attempting to stabilize economic and trade relations through dialogue after being unable to continue the tariff war, in order to alleviate domestic economic pressure and seek a way out for its own economic development.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1831508696371204/

Disclaimer: This article only represents the author's personal views.