Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said the United States is close to closing deals with major trade partners and could announce agreements as soon as this week.
However, the federal official confirmed what Chinese officials have been claiming for weeks: the phone lines between Beijing and Washington have been silent. Despite President Donald Trump’s claims to the contrary—that behind-the-scenes talks with President Xi Jinping are advancing a trade deal—Bessent on Tuesday said negotiations with China haven’t even begun.
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The Treasury Secretary testified before a House oversight subcommittee regarding the White House’s budget requests for 2026, saying that the U.S. is currently speaking with 17 different nations that have brought “very good offers” to the table. Those trade negotiations are “proceeding very well,” he said, adding, “I would be surprised if we don’t have more than 80 or 90 percent of those wrapped up by the end of the year.”
“I would think that perhaps as early as this week, we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners,” he told the subcommittee. “China, we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet.”
Last month, the Treasury Secretary said those discussions, when they do take place, are likely to be a “slog.”
Bessent said America’s other trading partners have approached the talks in good faith and that he expects to see a “substantial reduction” in the duties and non-tariff barriers erected on either side.
Asked about Bessent’s testimony, Trump acquiesced to the fact that he had not yet met with Chinese officials, but said, “They want to negotiate and they want to have a meeting.” The president also said inroads have been made with India, noting that the country has agreed to drop tariffs on U.S. goods “to nothing.”
Bessent also addressed House lawmakers concerned about an economic downturn, saying, “Nothing in the data shows we’re in a recession.” He pointed to a Friday jobs report that he said “surprised to the upside.”
The Commerce Department last week reported that U.S. GDP decreased at a 0.3-percent annualized rate during Q1, the first contraction reported in three years. Bessent said those numbers were subject to a revision.
April’s jobs report showed that the U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs last month, beating expectations of 138,000—but there were net downward revisions of 58,000 to March and February. During April, the unemployment rate held fast at 4.2 percent, with average hourly earnings growing modestly by 0.2 percent from March.
The retail sector faced disproportionate job losses, slashing more than 64,000 roles during the first four months of 2025—a triple-digit percentage increase from the job cuts announced at the same time last year.
According to analysis by J.P. Morgan, April’s jobs report “underscored the labor market’s resilience in the face of trade policy uncertainties and recent market volatility.” The financial services firm said that although strategists anticipate a slowdown in U.S. economic growth, “they do not see a recession as the base case this year.”
