The Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Tuesday that the United States had a substantial advantage over China while the two nations exchange threats in a booming trade war.
“I think it was a big mistake, this Chinese escalation, because they play with a pair of two,” said Bessent in an interview on “Squawk Box” by CNBC. “What do we lose by the Chinese prices that increased on us? We expand a fifth towards them of what they export us, so it’s a losing hand for them.”
Comments have one day before the United States to increase its functions on China and dozens of other nations in the context of so-called reciprocal prices, including the goal, said Bessent, is to bring back business partners and to jobs in the United States
So far, he has said that Japan has been at the forefront of countries wishing to negotiate, and that the White House is expecting a multitude of others.
“I think you will see very large countries with large trade deficits come forward very quickly,” said Bessent. “If they come to the table with solid proposals, I think we can end up with good deals.”
In the end, hope would be to generate jobs and income from prices, he added.
“If we were installing a price wall, the ultimate goal would be to bring jobs to the United States, but in the meantime, we will collect substantial prices,” said Bessent. “If we succeed, the prices would be a cube of ice, in a way, because you take income as the manufacturing facilities are built in the United States, and there should be a certain level of symmetry between the taxes that we start with the new payroll industry as the prices decrease.”
While he said that 70 countries contacted the White House to start talks, China promised it to “fight until the end” and imposed 34% prices on American products.
In return, President Donald Trump said that he would massage an additional 50% on Chinese imports if the price was not withdrawn. The United States in 2024 ran a trade deficit of nearly $ 300 billion with China, or about a third of the entire imbalance.
With prices, Trump hopes to open more markets for American products and reshore manufacturing operations in the United States, however, the administration does not simply focus on the absolute rate levels of other nations, but rather non-tariff obstacles such as the manipulation of money, the value added tax of Europe and other methods that the White House decreases fair trade.
“Everything is on the table,” said Bessent. “University literature shows that it is in fact the non -tariff barriers that are more difficult, both more difficult to quantify and … they are more insidious because they are hidden, they are obscured.”
The term contracts on the stock markets, which already indicated a strong open to Wall Street, added to the gains after Bessente spoke.
