US Treasury chief says that tariff war with China is unsustainable and he expects it to ease

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a closed-door investor summit on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s tariff war with China is unsustainable and that he expected the situation to de-escalate, Bloomberg News reported.

Citing people who attended the session on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings, Bloomberg also reported that Bessent told his audience that negotiations with Beijing had not started but that a deal was possible. The event was hosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co in Washington.

That message differed from Trump’s own take last week, when he said that “top officials” from Beijing were talking with their Washington counterparts and expressed confidence that a deal on tariffs would be reached soon.

Chinese officials had reached out “a number of times” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on April 17, adding that the two sides have had very good trade talks but that more remained, though he offered no evidence of any progress.

The Bloomberg report, which ran shortly before noon, appeared to send US stocks rocketing higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq up more than 3 per cent and the S&P 500 up more than 2 per cent.

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

South China Morning Post