Bessent: More US-China Meetings Are Expected Soon For A More 'Fulsome' Agreement

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on Monday that the meeting between the U.S. and China in Switzerland explored a mechanism to negotiate a more permanent agreement and prevent the escalation of tariffs that followed President Trump's April 2 tariff announcement. He expects to meet with Chinese officials again in the coming weeks to continue trade talks.

"I would imagine in the next few weeks we will be meeting again to get rolling on a more fulsome agreement," Bessent said. "We had a plan, we had a process, and now what we have with the Chinese is a mechanism to avoid an upward tariff pressure, like we did last time."

The interview followed an agreement between the two countries to significantly reduce imposed tariffs over a 90-day period. The U.S. will suspend the 24% tariffs set to take effect on April 2, 2025, while maintaining the existing 10% tariffs. Additionally, the U.S. will cancel retaliatory tariffs announced on April 8 and April 9, effectively lowering tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30% overall.

Bessent noted that tariffs imposed on Chinese goods before April 2 will remain in place. He added that the weekend's agreement and reciprocal tariffs are "not related to industry-specific tariffs." The 20% tariffs imposed on Chinese goods during Trump's first term will also stay unchanged.

Bessent said the trade deal reached with China during Trump's first term could serve as a "good starting point." While the Biden administration retained Trump's 20% tariffs, President Biden did not enforce the trade agreement, Bessent added. He also noted that the U.S. is negotiating measures to prevent China from rerouting goods through third countries to bypass tariffs.

However, reaching a new permanent deal will take time. Bessent acknowledged that he does not think anything will be easy because this situation has been going on for a long time, but "That's the purpose of the 90-day pause to see what we can do and work on these non-tariff barriers."

"We came with a list of problems that we were trying to solve, and I think we did a good job on that," Bessent added.