Secretary Bessent: US, China Have Not Yet Talked Trade

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that the Trump administration has yet to negotiate with China on trade since President Donald Trump enacted his sweeping tariffs plan last month.

Bessent’s comments during a hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government contradicted a statement Trump made to Time magazine last month that China President Xi Jinping called him and that the U.S. and China were in active talks to strike a deal.

Bessent said the U.S. has 18 key trading partners and is negotiating with 17 to strike a deal, but China was not among them. The administration has been negotiating with a number of trading partners since Trump imposed sweeping reciprocal tariffs on April 2. Although Trump issued a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs — a 10% baseline levy remains for most countries — the U.S. still is imposing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, plus 25% tariffs on some Canadian and Mexican goods and a total of 145% tariffs on Chinese imports.

Bessent’s comment on China negotiations came following a question by the subcommittee’s chair, Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, who asked where he sees the U.S. in a year with tariffs and the administration’s strategy, and whether he anticipates all trade deals being bilateral or if there could be multicountry trade pacts.

"This will be path-dependent on our trade partners," Bessent said. "As I said before, there are 18 very important trading relationships. We are currently negotiating with 17 of those trading partners. 

"China, we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet. So, I expect that we can see a substantial reduction in the tariffs that we are being charged, as well as nontariff barriers, currency manipulation, and the subsidies of both labor and capital investment. So, that is proceeding very well.

"Many of our trading partners have approached us with very good offers, and we are in the process of renegotiating those."

Bessent said the administration could announce agreements with some of the U.S.’s largest trading partners as soon as this week but did not reveal which countries were involved.

He told the committee that about 97% or 98% of the U.S. trade deficit of $140.5 billion — according to data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis — was with about 15 countries, most of which were major trading partners, and discussions were proceeding well with many.

"I would be surprised if we don't have more than 80% or 90% of those wrapped by the end of the year, and that may be much sooner," Bessent said.

"I would think that perhaps as early as this week we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners. They have come to us with very good offers."

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