WNAM MONITORING: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expects President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to communicate “very soon” to resolve tariff disputes.
“I believe we’ll see something very soon,” Bessent said when asked about a scheduled contact between the leaders at CBS’ Face the Nation interview aired on Sunday.
He expressed confidence that a conversation between Trump and Xi would resolve current issues, including alleged violations of an agreement negotiated in Geneva earlier last month.
When pressed about consequences for alleged agreement violations, Bessent said: “Well, we will see what the consequences are. I am confident that when President Trump and party Chairman Xi have a call, that this will be ironed out.”
Bessent emphasized the administration’s approach to China focuses on de-risking rather than decoupling from the world’s second-largest economy.
“We do not want to decouple … but we do need to de-risk, as we saw during COVID, whether it was with semiconductors, medicines, or the other products we are in the process of de-risking,” he said.
The treasury secretary indicated the administration prefers letting the two leaders communicate directly before pursuing other diplomatic channels.
Trump on Friday said he plans to speak to Xi. “I’m sure that I’ll speak to President Xi, and hopefully we’ll work that out.”
