Trump Tariffs: Bessent Calls for Balanced China Trade

The latest trump tariffs story is not about a new levy or a fresh threat, but about the direction of the economic relationship between the two largest economies in the world. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking in New York on Tuesday, called for a "more balanced relationship" between the United States and China, arguing that the American economy has grown too dependent on imports while China has become too reliant on selling abroad. His message, delivered a week before President Donald Trump is due to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Shenzhen, was that Washington wants to reduce risk in the relationship without breaking it apart.

Bessent's speech matters because it sets the public terms for the next round of talks between Trump and Xi, their third meeting this year. The two leaders are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen on November 18 and 19, and a fourth meeting is already planned for the Group of 20 summit in Miami next month. Between those meetings sits a fragile trade truce that is due to expire in January, and the question hanging over both summits is whether the two sides can turn a temporary pause in their tariff fight into something more durable.

De-Risk, Not Decouple: Bessent's Message in New York

Bessent delivered his remarks at the 60th anniversary gala dinner of the National Committee on US-China Relations in Manhattan, an audience of business leaders, diplomats and policy specialists who have followed the relationship for decades. He described the bond between the United States and China as "one of this century's most consequential relationships" and portrayed the personal relationship between Trump and Xi as a genuine friendship. Then he turned to the imbalance he said has to change.

"The American economy has grown too dependent on foreign supply, while China has become increasingly reliant on the foreign demand. In other words, the United States must produce more of what we consume, while China must consume more of what it produces," Bessent said. "Working together, we can strengthen both our economies." The line captures the administration's framing: the problem is not trade itself, but the shape of it, with American factories and supply chains leaning too heavily on goods made elsewhere and Chinese growth leaning too heavily on buyers abroad.

That stance, Bessent said, "does not reflect hostility" but seeks to restore "a spirit of reciprocity." He repeated the point in several forms through the evening, insisting that the goal is fairness rather than separation. "Let me state firmly and unequivocally tonight, as we work toward a more balanced relationship, our objective is to de-risk, not to decouple," he said. "Trade must advance the interests of both parties without diminishing the sovereignty of either." And in a passage aimed at his domestic critics, he added: "After decades of imbalance, we are restoring a spirit of reciprocity for the benefit of both our peoples."

The Chinese ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, spoke at the same event and echoed the call for reciprocity, though with a warning of his own. Xie told the gathering that China would adhere to its "red lines" and urged both sides to "engage in a race to the top under the principle of fairness, and promote mutual benefit in the spirit of reciprocity." The exchange, polite in tone and firm in substance, summed up where the relationship stands: both governments say they want balance, but each has lines it says the other must not cross.

The $30 Billion Board of Trade and the Farm Deals

Bessent's speech was not only a statement of principle. It also laid out the machinery the two governments have built to manage the tariff fight, and the concrete steps each side has promised to take. The centrepiece is a body called the Board of Trade, set up in September, which is meant to work through the tariff questions product by product rather than in sweeping rounds of retaliation.

According to Bessent, the Board of Trade has reached a consensus to identify more favourable tariff treatment for 30 billion dollars of non-sensitive goods in each direction, a reciprocal arrangement that would lower duties on a defined list of products both sides agree are not security-sensitive. A working group under the board has also been launched to address agricultural trade barriers, a long-running source of friction for American farmers who sell into the Chinese market. A separate Board of Investment is intended to provide a structured channel for discussions about market access for American companies operating in China and greater predictability for Chinese businesses operating in the United States.

The farm trade figures are among the most concrete commitments to emerge from the recent talks. Bessent said China has pledged to purchase at least 25 million metric tons of American soybeans and 10 million metric tons of American coal over the next two years. Soybeans have long been the bellwether of the agricultural relationship: China is the world's largest buyer, American growers depend on the market, and purchases have been used before as a measure of whether Beijing is keeping its word. The coal figure is smaller in political terms but notable as a sign that the buying commitments extend beyond the farm belt.

Those commitments grew out of the understandings reached during the two previous Trump-Xi meetings this year, following reciprocal state visits in May and September, and from the trade package agreed in Busan, South Korea. Bessent said the groundwork for the Shenzhen meeting was laid last week in a video call between himself, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, in which Greer's office said he urged Beijing to take concrete actions. Bessent emphasised the importance of China fully and immediately implementing its commitments made in Busan and raised concerns about recent Chinese actions, a reminder that the administration is watching delivery, not just promises.

A Superintelligence Dialogue Amid the Rivalry

The most forward-looking part of Bessent's speech concerned artificial intelligence, and specifically the risks posed by the most advanced systems, which he called superintelligence. The United States and China, he said, must work together to manage those risks even as their competition for technological leadership continues. The two countries should not underestimate their differences, he cautioned, but they also cannot afford to misunderstand each other on a technology that both are racing to build.

"As SI advances, so will the need to engage in new areas of risk management, and to demonstrate how two nations can reconcile the demands of competition with the responsibilities of leadership," Bessent said in his prepared remarks. At Trump's direction, he said, the two governments have begun a new dialogue on artificial intelligence "designed to guard against shared risk and prevent misunderstandings between our two systems." The dialogue is due to be established during Trump's meeting with Xi in Shenzhen, and Bessent said he will travel to China for the talks.

Why the Shenzhen Meeting Matters

The Shenzhen meeting is the third time Trump and Xi will have met this year, and the fourth is already planned for the Group of 20 summit in Miami next month, which would be an unprecedented four bilateral meetings in a single year. The frequency itself is a signal: whatever the tensions between the two governments, the leaders are talking, and both sides have invested political capital in keeping the channel open.

The context is a trade truce that is fragile by design. Washington and Beijing agreed to extend the trade agreement reached in South Korea by two months, from November 10, 2026, to January 10, 2027, and the extension is set to expire shortly after the Miami meeting. The truce has held off the worst of the tariff escalation, but it has not resolved the underlying disputes over the trade deficit, market access, industrial subsidies and technology controls. Each meeting, in effect, buys time for the next one, and the question is whether the meetings can produce something that outlasts the truce.

What Happens Next

The immediate next step is the Shenzhen meeting itself, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit on November 18 and 19. Bessent said he will join Trump there, and the agenda is already crowded: the tariff lists under the Board of Trade, the farm purchase commitments, the AI dialogue, and the state of the truce that expires in January. What the two leaders agree in Shenzhen will shape the Miami meeting a few weeks later, and what they agree in Miami will shape whether the truce is extended again or allowed to lapse.

Watchers of the relationship will be looking for several specific signs. The first is whether the Board of Trade publishes its list of 30 billion dollars of goods and how deep the tariff cuts actually are. The second is whether China's soybean and coal purchases begin to show up in trade data, which would indicate that the Busan commitments are being kept. The third is whether the superintelligence dialogue gets a concrete start, with named officials and a schedule, rather than remaining a statement of intent. And the fourth is the tone: whether the two leaders leave Shenzhen describing the relationship as balanced and reciprocal, or whether the old language of confrontation returns.

For American businesses caught between the two economies, the stakes are immediate. Tariffs have raised costs, the truce has offered only partial relief, and the difference between a durable arrangement and another round of escalation is measured in margins, contracts and jobs. Bessent's speech offered them a framework, de-risk rather than decouple, balance rather than break, but a framework is not a settlement. The settlement, if there is one, will be written in Shenzhen and in Miami, one meeting at a time.

Source: The Associated Press