(April 9): Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he envisions reaching trade agreements with US allies that would then lay the ground for a collective approach toward Beijing to address what he described as China’s unbalanced trade structure.

“We can probably reach a deal with our allies” at the end of the day, Bessent said when asked questions after a speech at the American Bankers Association in Washington Wednesday. “They’ve been good military allies, not perfect economic allies. And then we can approach China as a group.”

Bessent also warned the European Union against seeking to pivot instead toward China and away from the US, singling out an apparent endorsement of that tack in Spain. “That would be cutting your own throat,” he said.

The Treasury chief stressed that many countries surrounding China are now seeking trade negotiations with Washington in the wake of the reciprocal tariff action. China is the sole country that’s sought escalation with the US, Bessent said.

During the ABA event at which Bessent was speaking, the European Union unveiled tariffs to hit around €21 billion (US$23.2 billion or RM104.3 billion) of US goods, some of which will start taking effect in mid-April.

In addition to talks with Japan that are set to kick off soon, Bessent said that a Vietnamese delegation is coming to Washington Wednesday. In an earlier appearance on Fox Business, he also highlighted South Korea and India as seeking talks.

He quipped that he wouldn’t be taking time off for the Easter holidays, suggesting he will be busy with trade negotiations.

In the Fox Business interview, Bessent said, “It’s unfortunate that the Chinese actually don’t want to come and negotiate, because they are the worst offenders in the international trading system,” Bessent said. What Beijing “should not do is try to devalue their way out of this,” he said.

China’s central bank on Wednesday weakened the yuan’s daily reference rate for a fifth straight session. The move came after the offshore yuan on Tuesday slumped to the weakest level since the creation of the market in 2010.

Any devaluation campaign would spur the rest of the world to “keep raising their tariffs to offset the devaluation,” Bessent said.

 Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja