Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that the United States could announce trade deals with major trading partners as soon as this week, but that negotiations with China over tariffs have not begun.
The comments came as Mr. Bessent was testifying before a House committee and fielding questions about the state of the U.S. economy and President Trump’s trade agenda. Mr. Trump’s tariffs on China and countries around the world have caused economists to lower their growth forecasts and warn about a new bout of inflation, but Mr. Bessent argued that the measures would ultimately lead other countries to lower their trade barriers.
“I expect that we can see a substantial reduction in the tariffs that we are being charged, as well as non-tariff barriers — currency manipulation and the subsidies of both labor and capital investment,” Mr. Bessent said.
The Treasury secretary and Mr. Trump have said for weeks that many nations were eager to strike new trade deals that would soon be announced, although none have so far materialized. Last month, Mr. Trump suggested he’d also been in touch with China’s leader, Xi Jinping — but Chinese officials insisted no such talks were occurring.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bessent was clear: “China, we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet.”
The negotiations with various nations started last month after Mr. Trump imposed a 10 percent universal tariff on imports from all countries and additional tariffs he described as “reciprocal” on dozens of them. Those additional tariffs have been paused while the negotiations take place.
It was not clear whether the trade agreements would be formal pacts or statements of mutual understanding about revised trade terms.
Mr. Bessent sought to fend off criticism of Mr. Trump’s trade policy, defending the tariffs as necessary to fix trade imbalances. “We are aiming for fair trade to bring back high paying precision manufacturing jobs to the U.S.,” he told lawmakers.
Mr. Bessent also dismissed forecasts that suggested the country was heading toward a recession. He said that the economic data did not suggest that the economy was contracting and he predicted that the disappointing first quarter growth data would be revised upward.
