A breakthrough in stalled U.S.-China trade talks could be near, U.S. officials said Sunday, expressing hope that a call between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping – expected soon, might break the deadlock.
Tensions flared Friday when Trump accused Beijing of backtracking on a recent Geneva agreement that paused tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days.
Adding to the strain, The Wall Street Journal reported China was dragging its feet on export licenses for rare earths critical to car and chip manufacturing – a claim later confirmed by U.S. officials.
Still, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struck a more optimistic tone on CBS’s Face the Nation, saying the remaining gaps “could soon be bridged.”
"I'm confident that when President Trump and Party Chairman Xi have a call, this will be ironed out," Bessent said, noting that China was “withholding some of the products that they agreed to release during our agreement.”
When asked if rare earths were among those products, Bessent said, “Yes.”
“Maybe it's a glitch in the Chinese system. Maybe it's intentional. We'll see after the president speaks with Xi,” he said.
Asked when the Trump-Xi call might take place, Bessent said: “I believe we will see something very soon.”
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told ABC that the call could happen “this week,” but said he had no confirmation of a scheduled time.
Since Trump returned to the presidency, he has imposed sweeping tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, with especially high rates on Chinese imports.
New tit-for-tat levies on both sides reached triple digits before the recent de-escalation, when Washington agreed to temporarily reduce additional tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%.
China, meanwhile, lowered its added duties from 125% to 10%.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News Sunday that China was “slow-rolling the deal,” adding: “We are taking certain actions to show them what it feels like on the other side of that equation.”
“Our president understands what to do. He’s going to go work it out,” Lutnick said.
Lutnick also said a U.S. court battle over Trump’s tariff strategy – one court ruling to block the tariffs has been stayed pending appeal – would ultimately end in a win for the president.
“Tariffs are not going away,” Lutnick said.
Separate from the China deal, Trump said Friday he would double sector-specific tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50% starting June 4 – sparking ire from the European Union, which said it would retaliate.
Hassett said China’s dumping of low-cost steel was hurting U.S. industry – which in turn was hindering military preparedness.
“The bottom line is that we’ve got to be ready in case things don’t happen the way we want, because if we have cannons but not cannonballs, then we can’t fight a war,” Hassett told This Week.
“And if we don’t have steel, then the U.S. isn’t ready, and we’re not preparing ourselves for something,” he added.
“We have to have a steel industry that’s ready for American defense.”
