Catenaa, Tuesday, May 06, 2025- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday, the Trump Administration has not begun any negotiations with China over tariffs but has started with 17 other trading partners.
Bessent testified before a Congressional Oversight hearing of the Treasury Department Tuesday morning and said the US is negotiating trade deals with 17 out of the 18 major trading partners, while the administration has not yet started talks with China.
“As I said before, there are 18 very important trading relationships. We are currently negotiating with 17 of those trading partners. China, we have not engaged in negotiations as of yet. So I expect that we can see a substantial reduction in the tariffs that we are being charged, as well as non-tariff barriers, currency manipulation, and the subsidies of both labor and capital investment.” Bessent told the congress.
Bessent’s testimony contradicts numerous public comments made by President Trump that there have been discussions and negotiations with China over a new trade deal. The Chinese Communist Party has consistently insisted that no such talks have yet taken place.
Uncertainty over whether those deals would actually be made has led to economic trouble and genuine concerns about the growing odds of a recession.
“Approximately 97% or 98% of our trade deficit is with 15 countries, 18% of the countries are major trading partners, and I would be surprised if we don’t have more than 80% or 90% of those wrapped up by the end of the year,” Bessent said.
“And that may be much sooner, I would think that perhaps as early as this week, we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners,” he added.
