WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has taken a leading role behind the scenes in US trade negotiations — as President Trump expressed hope Friday that he would “open China” to American goods with his aggressive “reciprocal” tariffs.
“Bessent and Trump are in the driver’s seat but [Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick and [White House trade adviser Peter] Navarro continue to have access and say,” a source told The Post of the dynamic inside the administration’s economic team as it works on dozens of one-for-one trade deals following Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement April 2 — and its subsequent suspension seven days later.
“Trump trusts his resume, is basically what it comes down to,” this person added of Bessent, 62.
Bessent, a successful hedge fund executive worth an estimated $520 million, has been the public face of the talks as well — and has voiced confidence about progress in talks with India, South Korea and Japan.
He met last week with a Japanese delegation, with followup talks expected before the end of the month, and said he was surprised Thursday when meeting with Seoul officials by how far along those talks were, telling reporters at the White House the Asian delegation “came with their ‘A’ game.”
Bessent predicted this week that India would be the first to strike a new bilateral trade pact — after Vice President JD Vance and Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a “roadmap” for talks in Delhi earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome that he was hopeful that his “Liberation Day” levies will boost US businesses — including in China, which publicly claims its not negotiating a trade deal, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary.
“Free up China, you know, let us go in and work China,” Trump said of his goal.
“In other words, it’s called to open China. That would be great. That would be a big win, but I’m not even sure I’m going to ask for it because they don’t want it open, but because the tariffs I could possibly get that.”
Trump then asked journalists: “What do you think? Opening up China would be a big win, right? The problem is, no matter how big the win is, the press will not give me credit for it. If I got the greatest win in history.”
In an interview with Time magazine published Friday morning, Trump predicted that that a suite of trade deals would be announced “over the next three to four weeks … and we’ll be finished.”
“You have to understand, I’m dealing with all the companies, very friendly countries,” he said. “We’re meeting with China. We’re doing fine with everybody. But ultimately, I’ve made all the deals.”
Trump also agreed with Bessent’s reported comments from earlier this week that the current tit-for-tat trade war with Beijing is unsustainable, telling Time: “They won’t do any business here, because at 145% it’s going to be very rare that you see business … there’s a number at which they will feel comfortable. But you can’t let them make a trillion dollars from us. You can’t let them make $750 billion.
“See, that’s really what’s not sustainable when China makes a trillion dollars, or [$1.1 trillion], when we have almost $2 trillion worth of, I call it loss. Some people don’t, but a lot of it’s loss. I say, when you have a trade deficit of $2 trillion I consider that loss.”
