US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Global Outlook Forum in Washington, DC on April 23, 2025.
Jim Watson | Afp | Getty Images
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday put the responsibility for reaching a trade agreement on China.
"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," Bessent said during an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box."
The comments come with markets on edge over the direction of tariffs following President Donald Trump's April 2 announcement of broad-based global duties. A week later, Trump said he would keep in place 10% across-the-board tariffs but table for 90 days more aggressive levies against individual trading partners.
Since then, the U.S. has made progress in negotiations, Bessent said, singling out India for a potential deal in coming days.
"I would guess that India would be one of the first trade deals we would sign. So watch this space," he said.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
English (US) · 