US Treasury Secretary Bessent to hold first call with China counterpart on Friday

Bessent said one message will be that ‘we really want to put a stop’ to the inflow of precursor ingredients for fentanyl from China

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US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / TNS

Published: 7:34am, 21 Feb 2025

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he will hold his first introductory call with his Chinese counterpart on Friday, and reiterated longstanding US calls for its biggest geostrategic rival to rebalance its economy toward domestic consumption.

“I do have my first call with my Chinese counterpart tomorrow morning, so I look forward to a very productive discussion,” Bessent said on Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Bloomberg Surveillance. Bessent did not identify his counterpart by name. His predecessor, Janet Yellen, engaged with Vice-Premier He Lifeng, meeting him in Beijing last April. A Treasury spokesperson did not respond to a request to specify who Bessent would speak to on Friday.

Bessent said his first message will be that “we want to work together”, and that “we really want to put a stop” to the inflow of precursor ingredients for fentanyl from China. US President Donald Trump earlier this month slapped a 10 per cent surtax on goods from China, citing concerns over the illicit fentanyl trade.

The new Treasury chief effectively picked up a baton from Yellen in calling on China to stop relying on exports to propel its economic growth. Beijing has consistently defended its economic policies and argued that China’s success in trade is a result of free market competition and comparative advantage, not subsidies.

“This is really just an introductory conversation,” Bessent said of the call. “But as we go down the road, the Chinese need to rebalance their economy in favour of consumption,” he said. “They are suppressing the consumer in favour of the business community.”

While Bessent might have had the opportunity of meeting Chinese officials next week at the Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers’ meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, he plans to skip the forum to focus on domestic priorities.

He said “the readout we’ve gotten” from China is “he’s not attending either”, referring to his China counterpart. In the past, China sent its finance minister - a lower-ranked senior official than He - to gatherings such as a G20 finance meeting.