President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to reach a deal to avert 100% tariffs on China and likely to meet in person soon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said following talks with Beijing’s top trade negotiator.
Bessent told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in an interview Sunday that China was ready to make a deal “after two days of negotiations.”
A “framework” is ready for a meeting between Trump and Xi intended to avoid the harsher tariffs threatened by Trump starting Nov. 1 should Beijing move forward with plans to put restrictions on rare earth minerals, he said.
“I’m also anticipating that we will get some kind of a deferral on the rare earth export controls that the Chinese had discussed,” Bessent said.
“President Trump gave me a great deal of negotiating leverage with the threat of the 100% tariffs, and I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework that will avoid that and allow us to discuss many other things with the Chinese,” he added.
Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, his first stop in a five-day Asia tour that is expected to culminate in a face-to-face with Xi in South Korea on October 30.
Bessent said Trump would likely visit Xi in Beijing early next year, just ahead of the Lunar New Year, which is February 17. He said a meeting in Washington would likely happen ahead of Xi’s trip to the U.S. for the G20 next fall.
During the meeting with Xi, Trump has said he plans to raise the issue of fentanyl, accusing China of failing to curb the flow of precursor chemicals.
“I think we will be able to discuss them helping us get this terrible Fentanyl crisis under control,” Bessent said. “I think we are going to be able to discuss substantial soybean and [agriculture] purchases for our American farmers.”
China’s top trade negotiator Li Chenggang said Sunday that China and the U.S. had reached a preliminary consensus after discussions on a range of issues, including the extension of their trade truce, fentanyl and export controls.
Trump struck a positive tone after the talks.
“I think we’re going to have a deal with China,” he said, hinting at a possible meetings with Xi in China and the United States.
“We’ve agreed to meet. We’re going to meet them later in China, and we’re going to meet in the U.S., in either Washington or at Mar-a-Lago,” he added.
