The US government sent mixed messages on Thursday on where the latest trade agreement with China, including a possible extension of the pause on tariff hikes, is headed.
Asked by a reporter at the regular press briefing whether an extension of the current pause on import tariffs aimed at each others’ products “was on the table”, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I don’t think so, but I’ll let [Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent] speak on that, because he’s leading these negotiations.”
She added that the “current trade programme we have going right now with China, as it stands, will decrease America’s trade deficit by [US]$5 billion this year”.
“So we are moving in the right direction when it comes to China, and Secretary Bessent and [US Trade Representative] Ambassador [Jamieson] Greer continue to be in direct communication with our Chinese counterparts,” Leavitt said.
At a separate event at the White House later on Thursday, at which Bessent was present, Trump did not mention whether he has approved the plan to extend the suspension of tariff increases targeting Chinese goods.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
While en route to Washington from his visit to Scotland on Tuesday, Trump said he would make a decision after being briefed on the consensus reached in the Stockholm talks led by Bessent and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng.
