AsianFin -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested on Monday the Trump administration has been in active talks with China despite Bejing’s repeated dismiss.
Credit：China Media Group
“All aspects” of the US government are in contact with China, Bessent said in an interview with CNBC. The secretary called for Beijing to take first steps to seek de-escalate the trade war between the world’s top two economies. He reiterated his prediction last week that the current trade fight is “unsustainable”.
“As I’ve repeatedly said, I believe it’s up to China to de-escalate because they sell five times more to us than we sell to them, so these 125% tariffs are unsustainable,” Bessent said.
Bessent noted China has exempted some U.S. goods from tariffs, which he believed showed the Chinese government want de-escalation on trade. He warned he has “an escalation ladder in my back pocket” and escalation could include an “embargo”, though “we’re very anxious not to have to use it”.
Bessent disclosed the progress in settling trade deals with important trading partners except China. He said U.S. has received “very good proposals to avert U.S. tariffs” from most of 17 important trading partners, adding “negotiations with Asian trading partners going very well”. He singled out India for a deal in coming days. “India might be one of first trade deals we’ll sign,” said Bessent.
In an interview on ABC News' "This Week", Bessent said he “had interactions with my Chinese counterpart” in the IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington DC last week to talk about “traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings.” But he didn't imply discussions on trade also came up in the talks and said he didn’t know if U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Bessent said he thinks the Chinese will feel the current hefty tariffs are “unsustainable for their business model” and saw it will take months to strike a trade deal with China. "A trade deal can take months, but an agreement in principle and, the good behavior and staying within the parameter of the deal by our trading partners can keep the tariffs from ratcheting back to the maximum level," said Bessent.
In an interview with Time Magazine published earlier Friday, Trump said he will not call Chinese President Xi Jinping if Xi doesn’t held a call with hime, and Xi has already called him, which he doesn’t treat as a sign of weakness.
Trump in the interview revealed he’s made 200 trade deals and would unveil them in three to four weeks. Asked when the deals are going to be announced, Trump said he is dealing with all companies and “very friendly countries”, adding “We're meeting with China. We're doing fine with everybody.”
Trump on Friday was pressed multiple times by reporters to elaborate on the call with Xi he mentioned to Time but he dodged. When asked specifically if he'd spoken to him since the tariffs, Trump said, "I don't want to comment on that but I've spoken to him many times."
China on Monday insisted no talks on tariffs or trade are underway. “As far as I know, there have not been any calls between the two presidents recently,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun commented on Trump’s claims about Xi’s call in the Time interview.
Let me make it clear one more time that China and the U.S. are not engaged in any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, Guo stressed.
