Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that he believes the Trump administration’s ongoing tariff war with China will de-escalate soon because the ongoing rift isn’t sustainable.
Bessent, 62, made the remarks during JPMorgan’s closed-door investor summit in Washington, Bloomberg reported, citing several people who attended the event.
The reported comments caused shares to briefly spike on Wall Street, with investors watching closely for any signs of a thaw in the stalemate between the world’s two largest economies.
Bessent added that he was optimistic a deal was possible — even though negotiations with Beijing have not yet begun, those in attendance said.
For the moment, Bessent reportedly told his audience, the US and China effectively have a trade embargo in place after reciprocal duties reached 125% on American products and up to 145% on Chinese goods.
Bessent spoke as finance ministers and bankers from around the world gathered for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings in the nation’s capital to discuss the fallout from Trump’s sweeping global tariffs.
China vowed on Monday to retaliate against any country that chooses to strike deals with the US in order to win a reprieve from Trump’s levies.
“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” the Communist government fired off in a statement.
“If this happens, China will never accept it and will resolutely take countermeasures in a reciprocal manner. China is determined and capable of safeguarding its own rights and interests.”
On April 9, Trump suspended a planned slate of reciprocal tariffs against all other nations bar China for 90 days, a pause meant to allow time for the US to reach a series of one-for-one trade deals with its key trading partners.
“For one’s own temporary selfish interests, sacrificing the interests of others in exchange for so-called exemptions is like seeking the skin from a tiger. It will ultimately only fail on both ends and harm others without benefiting themselves,” the Chinese statement said.
“The United States has abused tariffs on all trading partners under the banner of so-called ‘equivalence,’ while also forcing all parties to start so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’ negotiations with them.”
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