Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that China’s escalation of tariffs is a “big mistake” because it is playing a “losing hand.”
Bessent said, “If we put up a tariff wall, the ultimate goal would be to bring jobs back to the U.S. But in the meantime, we will be collecting substantial tariffs. If we’re successful, tariffs would be a melting ice cube, in a way, because you’re taking in the revenues as the manufacturing facilities are built in the U.S., and there should be some level of symmetry between the taxes we begin taking in with the new industry from the payroll taxes as the tariffs decline.”
He continued, “I think you are going to see some very large countries with large trade deficits come forward very quickly. If they come to the table with solid proposals, I think we can end up with some good deals.”
Bessent added, “I think it was a big mistake, this Chinese escalation, because they’re playing with a pair of twos. Traditional if you look at the history of the trade negotiations we are the deficit country. What do we lose by the Chinese raising tariffs on us? We export one-fifth to them of what they export to us, so that is a losing hand for them.”
