AsianFin -- U.S. Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday expressed upbeat on trade negotiations with China after President Donald Trump repeated his administration would cut tariffs on China eventually.
Credit：China Daily
“I think we could see substantial progress in the coming weeks,” Bessent told CNBC when talking about progress in trade negotiations. Then he reiterated he thinks the current total tariffs are unsustainable, and the 125% of tariff level is equivalent to an embargo.
Bessent insisted China would suffer more than U.S. amid the intensifying trade war. “We’re reading every day what’s happening with factories in China. From an academic point of view, I can tell you that (in) the history of trade battles, we are the deficit country, the surplus country always has the most to lose.”
A day prior to Bessent’s remarks, Trump said in an interview with NBC that he will “at some point” reduce tariffs on China, though he will not make the first move.
“At some point, I’m going to lower them because otherwise you could never do business with them,” Trump said in NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker”, which was taped on Friday and aired on Sunday. “They want to do business very much … their economy is collapsing.” Trump responded “no” when asked if he is not going to drop the tariffs to get China to the negotiation table.
Trump on Sunday told reporter aboard Air Force One that the U.S. was meeting with many countries, including China, on trade deals, and he has no plans to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping this week. But he signaled that his aides are having conversations with Chinese counterparts on “differnet things”.
Trump said his main priority with China was to secure a “fair” trade deal, while repeating that China had been "ripping us for many years" on global trade. According to Trump, former President Richard Nixon's move to reach out and establish relations with China was "the worst thing" he ever did.
Trump acknowledge he had "very tough with China", but believed Beijing wanted to strike a deal since the country is experiencing economic pains. "We've gone cold turkey," Trump said. "That means we're not losing a trillion dollars ... because we're not doing business with them right now. And they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal very badly. We'll see how that all turns out, but it's got to be a fair deal."
Bessent last week revealed the Trump administration has been actively engaging in talks with Beijing and claimed the 145% overall tariffs would hurt China more than the United States.
“All aspects” of the US government are in contact with China, Bessent said in an interview on Apri 28. He 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 a week earlier 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.
On April 29, Bessent told reporters at the White House that the current Chinese tariffs are unsustainable for China’s economy. He predicted the superpower could lose 10 million jobs quickly due to tariffs.
