- It is a complicated relationship with China
- US has had substantial discussions with Japanese allies on trade
- Chinese exemptions show they want a de-escalation on trade
- Europeans are panicked about strength of euro
- 17 important trading partners have made ‘very good proposals’ to avert US tariffs
- Negotiations with Asian trading partners going very well
- Says he was surprised when markets rallied after remarks at JPMorgan conference, didn’t say anything new
He’s going with “it was the market’s fault” as his defense for telling market-moving information to a private group.
In any case, could be trying to smooth the way for Trump to ease China tariffs by highlighting the exemptions. That said, he also delivered this:
“I believe that it’s up to China to de-escalate, because they sell five times more to us than we sell to them, and so these 120%, 145% tariffs are unsustainable”
More:
- Says we will see what happens with China, when asked if he planned to call is counterpart’
- ‘Maybe they’ll call me one day’
- Says not worried about empty shelves
- We’ll see elasticities, we’ll see replacements
- First trade deal might come as early as this week or next week
I’m starting to get the sense that Bessent is out of his depth.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.
