U.S. not speeding commerce offers forward of August deadline, will speak with China: U.S. Treasury Secretary

“We’re not going to rush for the sake of doing deals,” Bessent instructed CNBC in an interview.

Asked whether or not the deadline may very well be prolonged for international locations engaged in productive talks with Washington, Mr. Bessent stated U.S. President Donald Trump would determine.

“We’ll see what the President wants to do. But again, if we somehow boomerang back to the August 1 tariff, I would think that a higher tariff level will put more pressure on those countries to come with better agreements,” he stated.

On China, Mr. Bessent stated there could be “talks in the very near future.”

“I think trade is in a good place and, I think, now we can start talking about other things. The Chinese unfortunately … are very large purchasers of sanctioned Iranian oil, sanctioned Russian oil,” he stated.

“We could also discuss the elephant in the room, which is this great rebalancing that the Chinese need to do.”

Mr. Bessent instructed CNBC he would encourage Europe to observe the United States if it implements secondary tariffs on Russia.

On Japan, Mr. Bessent stated the administration was much less involved with its home politics than with getting the most effective deal for Americans.