Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that China must “de-escalate” trade tensions with the Trump administration given it sells “five times more” to the U.S. than the U.S. sells to China.
Bessent made the remarks in an interview with CNBC. He said that the administration is in the midst of 15 to 18 trade negotiations with different countries, singling out India as having the potential for a deal in a matter of days.
As far as China is concerned, however, Bessent said Beijing should be reaching out to the administration.
“I believe that it’s up to China to de-escalate, because they sell five times more to us than we sell to them, and so these 120%, 145% tariffs are unsustainable,” Bessent told CNBC.
He added, however, that “all aspects of government are in contact with China.”
Uncertainty persists over the status of exchanges, if any, between the White House and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. President Donald Trump said last week that he’s actively negotiating with the Chinese government on tariffs, but Beijing denied that talks were underway.
In the interim, China has retaliated against Trump’s tariffs by putting 125% import duties on products from the U.S., among other measures.
Chinese leaders on Monday downplayed the potential impact of Trump’s tariffs, saying they have the capacity to protect jobs and limit damage from higher tariffs on Chinese exports.
In the meantime, Bessent said the administration is actively hammering out deals.
“We’ve had many countries come forward and present some very good proposals, and we’re evaluating those,” Bessent told CNBC. “I would guess that India would be one of the first trade deals we would sign. So watch this space.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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