Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that it was up to China to “de-escalate” their trading policy with the Trump administration.
Co-host Joe Kernen said, “Where are we with China? Are there negotiations? Was there a phone call with President Xi and President Trump?”
Bessent said, “You know Joe, the Treasury secretary, does a lot of things, running the White House switchboard is not one of them. All aspects of government are in contact with China. In terms of trade negotiations, we will see where this goes. But as I have repeatedly said, 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.”
He added, “These are the two largest economies in the world, so there are a lot of touchpoints. As you know, last week was IMF World Bank week in D.C. I had my Chinese counterparts here, and we talked about what you talk about at IMF World Bank meetings. We talked about financial stability. You looked ahead to trying to prevent financial crises, and you talked about global financial regulation. So there are lots of touchpoints all the time.”
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