U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent continues to defend President Donald Trump‘s sweeping tariffs against dozens of countries, including a 145% tariff against China. On Monday on CNBC, Bessent reiterated that many touchpoints in the U.S. government “are in contact with China.”
Note: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, “I want to reiterate that China and the United States are not engaged in consultations or negotiations on the tariff issue.”
Shaun Rein, an American Harvard graduate and managing director of the China Market Research Group (which is based in China), replied to Bessent’s comments: “China won’t fold to Trump and Bessent’s economic coercion – they hold the cards.”
Rein added, “In the United States, a lot of people think that China is nervous about the trade and it’s going to kneel down and fold and give in to all of Trump’s demands. That’s just not gonna happen.”
Rein added, “Right now, Xi Jinping and the Chinese people are coalescing, they’re not scared about the United States. They’re going to push back really hard.” He added, “They’re gonna push back a lot harder than Americans think.”
China won’t fold to Trump and Bessent’s economic coercion – they hold the cards pic.twitter.com/gvnY0u9WPn
— Shaun Rein (@shaunrein) April 28, 2025
Bessent also addressed tariff negotiations between the U.S. and its allies in Asia.
As seen below, Bessent said: “We are continuing to make substantive movement on negotiations with many of our trading partners. The negotiations with our Asian trading partners are going very well. Vice President Vance was in India last week, talked about substantial progress. I had mentioned the negotiations with the Republic of Korea have gone very well. And I think we’ve had some very substantial negotiations with our Japanese allies.”
Note: Government officials in Japan are also contradicting Bessent’s report. Japan Economy Minister Akazawa reportedly said: “There is no change to our stance, we are demanding full removal of US tariffs.”
We are continuing to make substantive movement on negotiations with many of our trading partners.
The negotiations with our Asian trading partners are going very well; the negotiations with the Republic of Korea have gone very well; the @VP‘s negotiations with India went very… pic.twitter.com/GlhSSmEANc
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 28, 2025