Trump Treasury Chief Drops Absurd Dodge When Asked Point-Blank if Trump Spoke to Xi
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dropped an absurd dodge when confronted about whether or not President Donald Trump has spoken with China’s President Xi Jinping , and after evading another question about trade negotiations with China.
Trump has been jousting with Chinese officials over whether or not the Asian superpower has been seeking a deal to avoid the massive tariffs that have been escalating in recent weeks. China claims there have been no talks, while Trump has claimed there have — and that Xi has called him personally.
At Tuesday’s White House press briefing , Bessent joined White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt for the second early session this week amid a PR offensive pegged to Trump’s first 100 days in office.
CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang pressed Bessent on those claims, and among the evasions Bessent threw at her was a priceless note about White House job responsibilities:
WEIJIA JIANG: Thank you so much, Karoline. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
The Chinese continue to say that the U.S. And Chinese are not engaged in any consultation or negotiation on tariffs. You recently said you’ve talked to your counterpart, but more about, quote, “traditional things, like financial stability.”.
So can you clarify, is the administration talking to Beijing specifically about tariffs or not?
SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Well, we’re not going to talk about who’s talking to whom, but I think that over time we will see that the Chinese tariffs are unsustainable for China.
I’ve seen some very large numbers over the past few days that show if these numbers stay on, Chinese could lose 10 million jobs very quickly and even if there is a drop and the tariffs, that they could lose five million jobs.
Remember that we are the deficit country. They sell almost five times more goods to us than we sell to them. So the onus will be on them to take off these tariffs. They’re unsustainable for them.
WEIJIA JIANG: And they are saying you guys are not talking about it. So is that true?
SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Look, they have a different form of government. They’re playing to a different audience.
So I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty again of who’s talking to whom. But as I said, I believe for the Chinese, these tariffs are unsustainable.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: Bloomberg . Go ahead.
WEIJIA JIANG: Very quickly, two days ago, you said you didn’t know if President Trump had spoken to Xi Jinping. Do you know now?
SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Again, I would say Karoline and I have a lot of jobs around the White House. Running the switchboard isn’t one of them.
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No one can say with any level of confidence that what this administration says is true. Not once in a while here and there, but every hour of every day.
Knowing what's being said and how it's being said and by whom at MY end of this issue, I'm convinced that China is dealing with this with an impenetrable "Great Wall". China is NOT going to back down becaue it knows, just as most expert economists know, that it is the USA that is going to be hurt much more than China.
When he was first nominated as Treasury Secretary I had heard that at least Bessent was a highly intelligent, capable centrist type. After observing his performance in office so far, the conclusion is he is weak and pathetic.
Just another bag-licker wanna-be sidekick.
It's all perfectly comprehensible. Just start with the postulate that these people have no idea what they're doing and it all becomes clear.
These incompetent morons are obviously lying. Negotiate now???? Why tf would anyone talk to us about a trade deal? We could have negotiated 100 days ago, but instead, that jackass opened with tariffs. We had trade deals all over the place, and he broke them. Trump, who is so fond of bragging about leverage and holding the cards or whatever, has destroyed any leverage we might have had.
To make matters worse, Congress - which could and should stop it - is letting it happen.
We cannot be trusted, as a country. You would have to be a fool to make a deal with us now.
And so the president, his press secretary, the cabinet, and all the Republicans in Washington, know they have fucked us all. Rather than learn from their fuck up and try to fix it, they are going to go around pretending that it’s working.
And apparently, our journalists, and all the MAGA faithful, are just going to go along with these bullshit stories of ongoing negotiations as if any of it could plausibly be true.
Why would they lie?
I'm confused, too. Does anyone think it's smart to negotiate with a bully? Never!
What nation would be wise to negotiate with Trump? None!
So now these idiots have no solution.
"Well, we’re not going to talk about who’s talking to whom, but I think that over time we will see that the Chinese tariffs are unsustainable for China.
I’ve seen some very large numbers over the past few days that show if these numbers stay on, Chinese could lose 10 million jobs very quickly and even if there is a drop and the tariffs, that they could lose five million jobs.
Remember that we are the deficit country. They sell almost five times more goods to us than we sell to them. So the onus will be on them to take off these tariffs. They’re unsustainable for them."
None of the "experts" here on NT knows exactly what's going on behind the scenes. The glory days for China are coming to an end
I think I know more about what's going on in China, and I know that China intends to let the USA hang itself.
A comment that is so "unsustainable" that it should be used as stand-up comedian material.
Mao put China through the egg, larva and pupa stages, Xi cracked open the chrysalis and what emerged to my eyes was a butterfly ... Americans saw Mothra.
I would imagine a totalitarian regime that denies its own citizens basic human rights like the ability to speak freely and puts dissenters in concentration camps appeals to a lot of leftist. Murder a few million here, a few million there. It's just a statistic.
Can you name a nation without blood on its hands? America damn well isn't in that group.
I see a difference between machine gunning thousands of your own citizens engaged in peaceful protest and arresting them, much like I can differentiate between jaywalking and mass murder. False equivalences are a thing.
Imagination is not one of your strong points.
I know of no 'leftists' who think that way. Now I can't speak for the one true 'leftist' I met back in the1960s ... I believe he died from abject loneliness circa the advent of Disco.
The US is 15% of China‘s economy..
Think about it.
China is 13% of the US economy. Think about that.
Do you imagine that I believe anything you post?
People who believe in conspiracies often don't believe facts. Those who believe in facts can easily verify what I said. For people who don't have google:
https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2025/02/u-s-imports-from-china-have-fallen-by-less-than-u-s-data-indicate/#:~:text=As%20shown%20in%20the%20chart,billion%2C%20a%20$66%20billion%20decline.