Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said late Wednesday that the U.S. has “put China to the side” as administration officials work to negotiate deals with other major trading partners.
In an interview on Fox News’s “Hannity,” Bessent said the U.S. is prioritizing striking deals with 17 of the 18 major trading partners — all but China — and said that process is moving along “as quickly as possible.”
“We've got 18 important trading partners. We put China to the side. Seventeen have not escalated. We are in negotiations with them. There's a process in place,” Bessent told host Sean Hannity.
Bessent reiterated that “all 17” of those countries “have approached us.”
“We are batching them in groups at a time,” he continued. “But, you know, we've had 100 approach us. And we are working with the top 17 to try to move them along as quickly as possible.”
Bessent said President Trump’s sweeping global tariffs on individual countries unveiled on April 2 illustrated the “high level” of what’s “possible,” adding that the threat of returning to those levels has sped up negotiations.
“President Trump has created the maximum optionality, maximum pressure for our trading partners. And, you know, by showing the high level of tariffs from April 2nd that are possible, they've all come to the table to negotiate,” Bessent told Hannity.
“And knowing that their levels could ratchet back up to the April 2nd tariff level has made everyone come to the table with some, what I would say, are very good proposals,” he added.
Shortly after announcing the sweeping tariffs, Trump said he would pause them for 90 days, reducing virtually all trade partners to the 10-percent baseline that he also announced. He left China’s in place and eventually ratcheted up levies from the previously announced 20 percent to 145 percent. China has not backed down, announcing its reciprocal 125 percent tariffs.
Trump has said he has spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping, but Beijing has denied any such discussions on negotiations have taken place.
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