WASHINGTON: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said the Trump administration could announce trade agreements with some of the United States' largest trade partners as early as this week, but gave no details on which countries were involved.
He said the administration was negotiating with 17 major trading partners, but had not yet engaged with China, the world's second-largest economy after the United States.
He said many trading partners have made very good offers and Trump officials were in the process of "re-negotiating" those now.
"I expect that we can see a substantial reduction of the tariffs that we are being charged, as well as non-tariff barriers, currency manipulation and subsidies, both labor and capital investment," he told the House Appropriations Committee.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his top officials have engaged in a flurry of meetings with trading partners since the president on April 2 imposed a 10% tariff on most countries, along with higher tariff rates for many trading partners that were then suspended for 90 days. He has also imposed 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 145% tariffs on China.
Bessent said about 97% or 98% of the U.S. trade deficit was with about 15 countries, most of which were major trading partners, and discussions were proceeding well with many.
"I would be surprised if we don't have more than 80 or 90% of those wrapped by the end of the year, and that may be much sooner," he said. "I would think that perhaps as early as this week we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners."
Trump told reporters on Sunday that his administration could announce some trade deals this week, but gave no details.
Administration officials have suggested that India and Japan could be the first countries to sign a trade agreement with the Trump administration to lower the tariff rates Trump has threatened.
Bessent's comments on the lack of negotiations with China came after Trump on Sunday told reporters that he had no plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, but U.S. officials were speaking with Chinese officials about a variety of different things.
In an interview with NBC News that was broadcast on Sunday, Trump acknowledged that he had been "very tough with China," essentially cutting off trade between the world's top two economies, but said Beijing now wanted to reach an agreement.
"They want to make a deal. They want to make a deal very badly. We'll see how that all turns out, but it's got to be a fair deal," he said at the time. - Reuters
