US Treasury Secretary: China has not entered into trade negotiations with the US

China has not entered commercial negotiations with the United States, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said today.

“We have not yet started negotiations with China “, Bessant said during a hearing session before the House Budget Committee.

Bessent said multilateral trade agreements are still possible if the countries can agree on a joint customs structure, though current efforts have focused on bilateral negotiations.

He stressed that most deals with major trade partners in the United States can be reached by the end of the year.

“About 97 or 98 percent of our trade deficit is 15 countries. I will be surprised if we don't reach more than 80 or 90 per cent of the agreement by the end of the year, and perhaps much faster”, Bessant told members of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, according to NBC News.

In his words, the U.S. may confirm that this week the completion of trade deals with some of the biggest trade partners.

“They offered us very good proposals, but we have not yet begun negotiations with China”, Besant said, and reiterated that the US has 18 very important trade partners and US President Donald Trump's administration is currently negotiating with 17 partners from that group./Periscopi/