China is keen to settle trade contracts with the US, according to President Donald Trump.
Trump’s comments come as he is poised to launch trade negotiations with China in Switzerland on Saturday amid a sudden tariff war between Washington and Beijing.
“Scott will go to Switzerland and meet with China,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “And they want to do so many deals. We all can play games. Who made the first call and who made them? That doesn’t matter. It’s just the thing that happens in that room. But China wants to do so many deals.
Trump told Air Force reporters on Sunday that he wanted a “fair” trade deal with China and claimed that the debate with Beijing was working on multiple issues.
Trump has been expressing his support for tariffs for decades. The White House has called for tariffs to address the country’s 2024 record of $1.2 trillion in trade deficit, which said tariffs will regain jobs in the US manufacturing industry.
Bessent warned in April that tariffs could cost China up to 10 million people, saying it is mandatory for Beijing to remove current tariffs on US imports.
“Over time, we see that China’s tariffs are unsustainable for China. If these numbers stay over the past few days, it shows that Chinese people could lose 10 million jobs very quickly,” Bescent told reporters at the White House.
“So don’t forget that we are a country with a deficit,” Bescent said. “They sell us almost five times more items than we sell to them. So the responsibility lies above them to remove these duties. They are unsustainable for them.”
Bessent also told lawmakers Tuesday that the US has launched discussions with various countries and showed that it could announce major trade transactions “early this week.”
This is a broken news article and will be updated.
Diana Stancy is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the White House.
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