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US-China trade war
ChinaDiplomacy

US Treasury chief calls tariff war with China unsustainable and expects it to ease

Negotiations with Beijing have yet to start, Scott Bessent adds, voicing belief in a possible deal as markets surge on report

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US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicts a de-escalation in tariffs in the near future. Photo: Reuters
Robert Delaney,Khushboo Razdanin WashingtonandIgor Patrickin Washington
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a closed-door investor summit on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s tariff war with China has led to an unsustainable, two-way “embargo” and that he expected the situation to de-escalate.
Bessent also said in the session on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings, hosted by JPMorgan Chase, that negotiations with Beijing had not started but that a deal was possible, according to an attendee.

“No one thinks the current status quo is sustainable, at 145 and 125 [per cent], so I would posit that over the very near future, there will be a de-escalation,” he said referring to the top end of most of the tariffs that Trump has put on imports from China and vice versa, respectively. “We have an embargo now on both sides.”

“China is going to be a slog in terms of the negotiations, because that engagement started … not yet,” he added. “But I think, again, I think neither side thinks the status quo is sustainable.”

Bessent’s comment that negotiations had not yet started differed from Trump’s own take last week, when he said “top officials” from Beijing were talking with their Washington counterparts and expressed confidence that a deal on tariffs would be reached soon.

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Chinese officials had reached out “a number of times”, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on April 17, adding that the two sides had held good trade talks but that more remained, though he offered no evidence of any progress.

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