Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that he did not know if President Trump had spoken to President Xi Jinping of China, casting further doubt on Mr. Trump’s recent suggestion that Mr. Xi had called him.
Mr. Bessent’s comments, made on ABC’s “This Week,” come as the United States and China are locked in a trade war that is destabilizing the world economy and rattling global markets. The secretary attempted to ease concerns about trade tensions with China and other countries, insisting that the administration was in talks with various nations and acknowledging that the tariffs it has imposed on Chinese goods were not sustainable.
But it appears that communication with China has been minimal.
“I don’t know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi,” Mr. Bessent said when pressed by the host, Martha Raddatz, about Mr. Trump’s statements that the two leaders had spoken about trade. “I know they have a very good relationship and a lot of respect for each other.”
The Treasury secretary is traditionally the American official who leads economic talks between the United States and China and would be expected to know if Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi had engaged in such discussions.
In an interview with Time last week, Mr. Trump said Mr. Xi had called him, though he declined to say when, and asserted that his team was in active talks with China on a trade deal.
Asked about the interview outside the White House on Friday, the president reiterated that he had spoken with the Chinese president “numerous times,” but he refused to answer when pressed on whether any call had happened after he imposed tariffs this month.
Beijing has denied that talks were underway. “China and the U.S. have not held consultations or negotiations on the issue of tariffs,” Guo Jiakun, the spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said in a news conference on Friday. “The United States should not confuse the public.”
Mr. Bessent said in the interview Sunday that he interacted with his Chinese counterparts last week during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank but suggested that the conversations were “more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings.”
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of those meetings last week, Mr. Bessent dismissed speculation that Mr. Trump was considering unilaterally lowering the tariffs he has imposed on China before any negotiations with Mr. Xi. Mr. Bessent emphasized that any moves to de-escalate trade tensions must be mutual.
“I don’t think either side believes that the current tariff levels are sustainable,” he said at the time. The secretary added, “This is the equivalent of an embargo, and a break between the two countries on trade does not suit anyone’s interest.”
The U.S. tariffs on China have already begun to bite American importers. The pain is expected to intensify this week when a loophole that allows retailers to send clothes and other goods from China directly to American shoppers without paying tariffs expires on Friday.
