WASHINGTON ― Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration still has not engaged in trade negotiations with China, contradicting previous claims from President Donald Trump that the U.S. is talking to Beijing about tariffs.
“China we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet,” Bessent told the House Appropriations Committee at a May 6 hearing.
Leaders from the world’s two largest economies have not blinked after the Trump administration imposed tariffs totaling 145% on imports from China, prompting Beijing to slap 125% tariffs on U.S. exports. Bessent has said it’s up to China to de-escalate the trade tensions because they sell more goods to the U.S. than the U.S. does to China.
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Yet Trump has signaled multiple times in recent weeks that trade talks with China are underway. “Everything’s active” Trump told reporters on April 23 when asked whether he’s actively talking to Chinese leaders.
Trump, in an interview with Time Magazine that published April 25, said he won’t reach out first to Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss tariffs but said Xi contacted him. “He’s called. And I don’t think that’s a sign of weakness on his behalf,” Trump said.
Shortly after Bessent’s comments, however, Trump told reporters on May 6 the U.S. is “losing nothing” by not trading with China, while acknowledging negotiations haven’t started. “They want to have a meeting,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “We’ll be meeting with them at the right time.”
“I have not met with them ‒ no,” Trump said. “You would know if I met. I would tell you.”
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China’s Commerce Ministry on May 2 said Beijing is “currently evaluating” information conveyed by the U.S. through certain channels but emphasized China won’t negotiate trade with the U.S. until Trump cancels the steep reciprocal tariffs placed on Chinese goods.
Trump, asked about China’s position during a May 4 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he has no plans to lower the tariffs on China as a way to facilitate negotiations but said the levies will be reduced at some point.
“Why would I do that?” Trump said when asked if we would drove the tariffs to get China to the negotiating table. “At some point, I’m going to lower them because otherwise, you could never do business with them. And they want to do business very much. Look, their economy is really doing badly. Their economy is collapsing.”
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The Trump administration is working to secure trade deals with more than 170 nations after Trump in April steep imposed universal tariffs on much of the world. Trump delayed for 90 days reciprocal tariffs placed on goods from many countries, but a 10% baseline tariffs remains for these countries, in addition to the massive 145% tariffs on China.
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Bessent said the administration is in negotiations with 17 of the 18 largest U.S. trading partners, with the exception being China.
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Although Trump has yet to sign of on a trade deal with any country since the negotiations began, Bessent said he would “be surprised if we don’t have more than 80 or 90% of those wrapped up by the end of the year” and predicted an announcement as soon as this week on at least one country.
“Many of our trading partners have approached us with very good offers, and we are in the process of renegotiating those,” Bessent said. “I would think that perhaps as early as this week, we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners.”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump and China still haven’t started trade talks, Bessent says
