US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has cautioned that any de-escalation in the US-China trade war would have to be mutual, denying suggestions that President Donald Trump would unilaterally cut levies on Chinese goods.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Bessent said “there would have to be a de-escalation by both sides”, echoing comments he made to a JPMorgan conference on Tuesday, where he warned that the US-China trade war was “not sustainable”.
Bessent said the high level of tariffs the US and China had imposed on each other was “the equivalent of an embargo”. Trump has imposed a 145 per cent levy on Chinese goods and Beijing has retaliated with a duty of 125 per cent.