Bessent does not back up Trump on China tariff discussions

REUTERS/TINGSHU WANG / APRIL 17

Cranes and cargo ships with containers are seen near a building of China Customs at the Yantian port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China.

WASHINGTON >> U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday did not back President Donald Trump’s assertion that tariff talks with China were under way and said he did not know if the U.S. president had talked to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Trump administration signaled openness last week to de-escalating a trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has raised fears of recession. Trump himself has said talks on tariffs were taking place with China and that he and Xi have spoken.

Yet Beijing has denied that any trade talks are occurring.

Bessent, a key player in U.S. trade talks with multiple countries, said that he had interactions with his Chinese counterparts last week during International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, but did not mention tariffs.

“I had interaction with my Chinese counterpart, but it was more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I don’t know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi,” Bessent added. “I know they have a very good relationship and a lot of respect for each other.”

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Asked why the Chinese were denying talks, Bessent said. “I think they’re playing to a different audience.”

Bessent, who said last week that tariff negotiations with Beijing would be a “slog,” did not give a timetable for any potential agreement with China.

He said a trade deal can take months, but a de-escalation and an agreement in principle can be achieved sooner and would keep tariffs from ratcheting back to the maximum level.

Trump’s erratic, and often confusing, rollout of tariffs has hit many countries including the largest U.S. trading partners, like Canada, Mexico and China. The result has been almost unprecedented market volatility and serious damage to investor trust in U.S. assets.

In a separate television interview on Sunday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the United States was holding daily conversations with China over tariffs, but did not elaborate.

“Every day we are in conversation with China, along with those other 99, 100 countries that have come to the table,” Rollins said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

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