Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told lawmakers Tuesday that the U.S. could announce new trade deals with leading trade partners as soon as this week, though talks with China have yet to get off the ground. Later in the day, the Treasury Department announced that Bessent will travel to Switzerland on Thursday to start talks with China.
Bessent will reportedly be joined by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Appearing before a House panel in the morning, Bessent said the U.S. has 18 major trading partners, and the Trump administration is currently negotiating with 17 of them — all except China.This contradicts statements made by President Trump, who has hinted that he has talked to Chinese leader Xi Jinping and that White House officials are talking to their Chinese counterparts. China has denied that talks are occurring at any level, and Bessent appeared to back their version of the story today. “China, we have not engaged in negotiations with them as of yet,” he said.
As for the rest of the trade deals, it could take more than a few weeks to complete any agreements. Referring to the country’s 15 largest trade partners, Bessent said he “would be surprised if we don’t have more than 80 or 90% of those wrapped up by the end of the year.”
A warning on debt: Bessent also said that the IRS is still tallying the revenues from the 2025 tax season, and when he has a better sense of where things stand he will update Congress with his estimate of when the federal government will exhaust its borrowing capacity as it bumps up against the debt ceiling.
Although he is still awaiting more definitive numbers, Bessent did say that he knows the U.S. is getting close to the point, known as the X-date, when it will face a funding crisis.
“Just as an outfielder running for a fly ball, we are on the warning track,” Bessent said. “And when you are on the warning track, it means the wall’s not far away.”
Bessent vowed that the U.S. government “will never default.” The debt ceiling will be raised, he said, and the Treasury will not use any “gimmicks” to get around its obligations. But the X-date will be a key factor in determining the deadline for Republicans’ budget bill, since they plan to raise the debt limit in that legislation.
Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel said Monday that revenues are sticking close to estimates, suggesting that the government could have until the end of summer before the X-date arrives. “We still have it as late in the summer — into August, into September,” Swagel told Bloomberg.