Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told House lawmakers Tuesday that the Trump administration could announce trade deals with some of America’s largest trading partners as soon as “this week,” but he noted that negotiations have not started with China.
“I would think that perhaps as early as this week, we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners,” Bessent told a panel at the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and Government.
The secretary said the US was in talks with 17 trading partners out of the 18 the US considers “very important.”
“China, we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet,” he said.
He said he would be surprised if the US hasn’t completed more than 80% or 90% of trade deals with its major trading partners by the end of the year and “maybe much sooner.”
Bessent says many trading partners have approached the US with good offers and he expects “substantial reduction” in the tariffs and nontariff barriers, as well as changes to currency manipulation and the subsidies of both labor and capital investment.
Across town at the White House, when asked about Bessent’s comments, President Trump said of China that “they want to meet.”
“They want to negotiate and they want to have a meeting,” the president said, but noted that he has not met with China.
Trump also said of India and tariffs, “They have agreed to drop it to nothing.”
One Democratic congressman, Mark Pocan, took Bessent to task on tariffs Tuesday, repeatedly asking Bessent who pays for the president’s tariffs.
“The tariffs are on again, off again, some on again, some off again, somewhat chaotic,” Pocan said.
“I believe your term is like crazy Ivan style; I compare them to how a monkey throws dung. You’re not exactly sure where they’re gonna land, and that’s the concern I have as a small business owner,” he said.
The secretary added during his appearance on Capitol Hill that he does not believe that the US is in recession now, noting that first quarter GDP, which contracted for the first time in three years, will be revised upward.
“Nothing in the data shows we’re in a recession,” he said, and noted a jobs report from last Friday that “surprised to the upside.”
When it comes to the so-called X date, or the date when the US will run out of cash to pay its bills, Bessent warned that the US is on “the warning track, which means we aren’t far away.”
He said he will be able to give a more precise date when the Treasury is finished tallying incoming tax payments that came in for the April 15 tax filing deadline.
Bessent stressed that “the US will never default. We will raise the debt ceiling and Treasury will not use gimmicks. We’ll make sure the debt ceiling is raised.”
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