We expect support from India, others: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on US-China trade tensions

US Treasury Secretary Scott

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business on Monday that Washington expects support from India and other allied nations as it navigates heightened trade frictions with China.

Scott Bessent said, “We will not let these export restrictions and monitoring go on. And I believe that China is open to discussion on this.” The US will be meeting with its allies this week, and expects to get “substantial global support from from the Europeans, from from the Indians, from the democracies in Asia,” he said.

"They have pointed a bazooka at the supply chains and the industrial base of the entire free world. And, you know, we're not going to have it. China is a command and control economy. They are neither going to command [nor] control us. We are going to assert our sovereignty in various ways. We have already been in touch with the allies. We will be meeting with them this week and, you know, I expect that we will get substantial global support from the Europeans, from the Indians, from the democracies in Asia," Scott Bessent said during the interview with Fox Business.

Bessent emphasized that while the US does not seek economic decoupling, Beijing’s recent actions have sent a “decoupling message.” He said the administration remains confident that tensions can be de-escalated but warned that if China refuses dialogue, “we have substantial levers we can pull.”

“We don’t want to decouple, but China is sending a decoupling message,” Bessent noted, adding that “everything is on the table.”

The Treasury Secretary confirmed that President Donald Trump is still scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, while he himself hopes to meet his Chinese counterpart ahead of that summit. He also revealed that the US has been in active communication with allies over the weekend, with several staff-level meetings planned this week.

Bessent said there were substantial communications between the two sides over the weekend and more meetings were expected.

"We have substantially de-escalated," Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

"President Trump said that the tariffs would not go into effect until November 1. He will be meeting with Party Chair Xi in Korea. I believe that meeting will still be on."

Trump and Xi had planned to meet during the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum hosted by South Korea in late October.

The softer tone soothed a jittery Wall Street, sparked a strong rebound in U.S. stocks at the start of trading in New York on Monday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index up nearly 2% and other major indexes up about 1%.

Trump's threat on Friday sparked a big sell-off at a time when investors and top policymakers were already growing anxious about a frothy stock market fueled by an investment boom in artificial intelligence that some officials fear could hurt future employment.

Bessent said there would be US-China staff-level meetings this week in Washington on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual gatherings.

"The 100% tariff does not have to happen," Bessent said. "The relationship, despite this announcement last week, is good. Lines of communication have reopened, so we'll see where it goes."

"China is a command and control economy. They are neither going to command nor control us," Bessent said.

China blamed the United States for the rising trade tensions on Sunday and called Trump's latest threatened tariffs of 100% on Chinese goods hypocritical. It defended its curbs on exports of rare earth elements and equipment. China dominates the market for such elements, which are essential to tech manufacturing.

Under China's new regulations, foreign companies producing some of the rare earths and related magnets on the list will now also need a Chinese export license if the final product contains or is made with Chinese equipment or material. This applies even if the transaction includes no Chinese companies.

The United States would reject licensing requirements from China, Bessent said in the interview on "Mornings with Maria."

Trump's unexpected broadside on Friday shook global financial markets, sending the benchmark S&P 500 Index sliding by more than 2%, its biggest one-day drop since April, when a steady barrage of tariff announcements by Trump stoked market volatility.

*With Agency Inputs