By Molly Claire Goddard
1:49am PDT, Jun 2, 2025
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Trade negotiations between the United States and China have hit a snag.
During a Thursday, May 29, interview on Fox News'
Special Report with host
Bret Baier,
Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent claimed talks between the two nations have "stalled" after they agreed to reduce their respective
tariffs earlier this month.
Keep reading to learn why the world leaders are having trouble coming to a mutual agreement…MORE:
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear that Donald Trump and the President of the People's Republic of China
Xi Jinping must come to the table in order to reach a permanent
trade deal.
"I would say that they are a bit stalled," the member of the right-wing administration said of the current state of negotiations. "I believe that we will be having more talks with them in the next few weeks and I believe we may at some point have a call between the president and party chair [Xi Jinping]."
"I think that, given the magnitude of the talks, given the complexity, this is going to require both leaders to weigh in with each other," Bessent explained. "They have a very good relationship and I am confident that the Chinese will come to the table when President Trump makes his preferences known."
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Earlier in May, the United States and China agreed to a 90-day
halt in their trade war. Per the temporary deal, America lowered the 145 percent tariff rate on many Chinese imports to 30 percent. China brought down its 125 percent rate to 10 percent.
An additional part of the agreement was to ensure the two nations would sit down to reach a permanent economic arrangement in the near future.
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Despite the hiccup with China's negotiations, Scott Bessent claimed other countries have been eager to come to a tariff agreement with Donald Trump.
"There are a couple of very large deals that are close. A couple of them are more complicated," the former hedge fund manager explained in the television interview. "And as we saw with the president's threat of 50% tariffs last Friday, the EU came to the table very quickly over the weekend, so now we've got the EU in motion also."
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On Wednesday, May 28, the Court of International Trade ruled that Donald Trump breached his presidential authority by implementing certain tariffs through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which includes the 20 percent tax on China in response to alleged illegal fentanyl trafficking.
"We've seen no change in [U.S. trading partner] attitude in the past 48 hours," Scott Bessent said of the court
blocking the tariffs. "As a matter of fact, I have a very large Japanese delegation coming to my office first thing tomorrow morning."
