US treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said he is “very happy” with the tariff arrangement the country currently has with China, adding the status quo on the subject was “working pretty well” with China.
When asked about the current tariff situation and a potential trade agreement with China, Bessent said, “We’re very happy…we’re at 50–55% tariffs on China, by far the largest line of tariff revenue…so, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Bessent’s remarks came during an interview with Fox News. “We have had very good talks with China. I imagine we’ll be seeing them again before November,” Bessent added.
The US’s tariff deadline for China, which was scheduled to end on August 12, was extended by President Donald Trump by 90 days earlier this month, now expected to end in November. The US currently charges 30% tariffs on Chinese imports, including a 10% base rate and 20% in fentanyl-related tariffs.
In another interview around the same time, Bessent had lashed out at India as he explained his rationale behind the US not sanctioning China over buying Russian oil.
India has been “profiteering” and “making billions” from its reselling of the oil, Bessent said to a question asked to him during the CNBC interview.
“India is just profiteering, they are reselling… They made 16 billion in excess profits, some of the richest families in India,” said Bessent.
“This is a completely different thing. Indian arbitrage, which is buying cheap oil and reselling it, has just sprung up during the [Ukraine] war. This is just unacceptable,” he added further. Bessent claimed that 42% of India’s oil imports came from Russia.
Meanwhile, news agency Reuters has said in a report that China’s import of crude oil from Russia rose by 16.8% from a year earlier to 8.71 million metric tons in the month of July. Russia was China’s biggest supplier for the month, the report further said.
Scott Bessent’s latest remarks on tariffs follow US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent remarks detailing “implications” if additional tariffs were levied on China.
“Let’s say you were to go after the oil sales of…Russian oil to China, China just refines that oil, which is sold into the global marketplace and anyone who is buying that oil would be paying more for it or if it doesn’t exist, would have to find an alternative source for it,” Rubio had said in an interview to Fox News.
Last month, Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on Indian imports into the US, further doubling the duties a few days later over India’s oil trade with Russia. Trump’s move received backlash in India, with the government saying in its response that the US was acting against New Delhi “for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest”.
