WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Members of Donald Trump’s cabinet gave conflicting messages on Sunday about whether negotiations with China over tariffs are taking place, as the Republican president has asserted.
The Trump administration signaled openness last week to de-escalating a trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has raised fears of recession. Trump said talks were under way with China on tariffs and that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have spoken.
Yet Beijing has denied that any trade talks are occurring.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a key player in U.S. trade talks with multiple countries, said on Sunday that he had interactions with his Chinese counterparts last week during International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, but did not discuss the tariff standoff.
In a separate television interview, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the United States was holding daily conversations with China over tariffs.
“Every day we are in conversation with China, along with those other 99, 100 countries that have come to the table,” Rollins said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Asked on ABC’s “This Week” whether the United States and China were holding talks on tariffs, Bessent did not address the question.
“I had interaction with my Chinese counterpart, but it was more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings. I don’t know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi (Jinping),” he said.
Bessent, who said last week that tariff negotiations with Beijing would be a “slog,” did not give a timetable for any potential agreement with China.
He said a trade deal can take months, but a de-escalation and an agreement in principle can be achieved sooner and would keep tariffs from ratcheting back to the maximum level.
Trump’s erratic, and often confusing, rollout of tariffs has hit countries ranging from the largest U.S. trading partners, like Canada, Mexico and China. The result has been almost unprecedented market volatility and serious damage to investor trust in U.S. assets.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Ted Hesson; Editing by Don Durfee and Mark Porter)
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