Current China Tariff Level Is a 'Floor,' Says Treasury Sec. Bessent (Full Interview)
May 12, 2025
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15:45Now PlayingCurrent China Tariff Level Is a 'Floor,' Says Treasury Sec. Bessent (Full Interview)
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as posted by the channelThe US and China will temporarily lower tariffs on each other’s products in a dramatic ratcheting down of trade tensions that buys the world’s two largest economies three months to work toward a broader agreement.
The combined 145% US levies on most Chinese imports will be reduced to 30% including the rate tied to fentanyl by May 14, while the 125% Chinese duties on US goods will drop to 10%, according to a joint statement and from officials in a briefing Monday in Geneva.
“Both sides agree we do not want a generalized decoupling,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Bloomberg Television interview Monday. “The US is going to do a strategic decoupling in terms of the items that we discovered during Covid were of national security interests — whether it’s semiconductors, medicine, steel,” he said.
Bessent’s overtures to ease trade tensions with China come less than six weeks after President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement April 2 of so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries. The retaliation that followed took duties to levels that for many companies effectively blocked trade and caused widespread uncertainty that could be sustained if talks don’t keep progressing.
Bessent said it’s “implausible” that reciprocal tariffs on China go below 10%, but the April 2 level — set by President at 34% — “would be a ceiling.” He also said that “we could see some amount of the fentanyl tariffs perhaps come off,” if there were “excellent engagement” from Beijing on solutions toward solving that crisis. Trump put a 20% surtax on China earlier this year over fentanyl concerns.
Speaking to reporters earlier in Geneva, the Treasury chief said, “We expect that as the negotiations proceed, that there will also be the possibility of purchase agreements to pull what is our largest bilateral trade deficit into balance.”
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