US-China tariff talks ‘a bit stalled’ amid court rulings
US trade talks with China are “a bit stalled” and reaching any deal will likely require direct input from President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says.
Two weeks after breakthrough negotiations led by Bessent that resulted in a temporary truce in the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, Bessent has told Fox News that progress since then has been slow.
“I believe we may at some point have a call between the President and party chair Xi,” Bessent said, who expected more talks in the coming weeks.
“Given the magnitude of the talks, given the complexity … this is going to require both leaders to weigh in with each other.
“They have a good relationship, and I am confident that the Chinese will come to the table when President Trump makes his preferences known.”
The US-China agreement to dial back triple-digit tariffs for 90 days prompted a massive relief rally in global stocks. But it did nothing to address the underlying reasons for Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods, mainly longstanding US complaints about China’s state-dominated, export-driven economic model, leaving those issues for future talks.
You might like
Since the mid-May deal, the Trump administration has concentrated on tariff negotiations with other major trading partners, including India, Japan and the European Union. Trump last week threatened 50 per cent tariffs on EU goods, only to delay that threat.
In further complications, a US trade court ruled on Wednesday (local time) that Trump had overstepped his authority in imposing the bulk of his tariffs on imports from China and other countries under an emergency powers act.
Less than 24 hours later, a federal appeals court reinstated the so-called “liberation day” tariffs, saying it was pausing the trade court ruling to consider the government’s appeal.
The appeals court ordered the plaintiffs to respond by June 5 and the administration to respond by June 9.
Trump’s senior trade adviser, Peter Navarro, said the pause was no surprise but the administration was pursuing “all strategic options.”
“We will hear, within the next day or two, at a minimum, from the United States Trade Representative on how we will respond to all of this. We will respond forcefully, and we think we have a very good case with respect to this,” Navarro said.
Stay informed, daily
He said that, as well as appealing the original ruling, the White House was considering other ways to impose tariffs.
“I can assure the American people that the Trump tariff agenda is alive, well, healthy and will be implemented to protect you, to save your jobs and your factories and to stop shipping foreign wealth, our wealth, into foreign hands,” Navarro said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has blasted the trade court ruling. The three-judge panel was made up of “activist judges”, she said – although it includes a judge appointed by Trump during his first term and others appointed by Barack Obama and Ronald Regan.
“The courts should have no role here,” Leavitt said.
“There is a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the presidential decision-making process. America cannot function if President Trump, or any president for that matter, has their sensitive diplomatic or trade negotiations railroaded by activist judges.”
Leavitt said the ruling was an effort to “brazenly [abuse] their judicial power to usurp Trump’s authority”.
Bessent said earlier that some trading partners, including Japan, were negotiating in good faith and that he detected no change in attitude following the trade court ruling.
Bessent was to meet a Japanese delegation on Friday in Washington.
