People who are more sober-minded than Trump have already realized that the U.S. has no cards left to play in the negotiations with China.

As one of the few technical bureaucrats in Trump's cabinet, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent clearly foresaw that the tariff negotiations with China would be extremely difficult.

[Bessent's tone is completely different from Trump's]

The White House spokesperson just announced that the president and the government are preparing for an agreement with China.

However, at a closed-door meeting, Bessent emphasized to American businesspeople that despite the fact that the tariff war is unsustainable, formal negotiations between China and the U.S. have not yet begun, making any progress "extremely difficult."

This is the first time since the outbreak of the Sino-U.S. tariff war that someone in Trump's administration has clearly admitted that the prospect of negotiations with China is "not optimistic," let alone Bessent, who is directly responsible for "rescuing" the president's tariff policy.

It should be noted that on the same day as Bessent's statement, his superior, Trump, had a completely different tone when talking about the Sino-U.S. tariff war.

Trump claimed that the negotiations between the U.S. and China were "going well," that he had a "good relationship" with China, and hoped for an agreement between the two countries. Even if this wish cannot be realized, he still believed that the tariff issue could be resolved.

Said Trump's remarks, compared to before, did not change much; they still carried a strong sense of wishful thinking.

[After three weeks of the tariff war, Bessent pointed out that formal negotiations between China and the U.S. have not yet begun]

He said that the problems could be solved on the surface, but left the headache to his subordinates.

Trump isn't unaware that by now, the U.S. is "in a difficult situation." However, being stubborn and self-aggrandizing as he is, he can't afford to show weakness in front of the media.

Otherwise, it would mean publicly admitting that U.S. tariff policies are ineffective against China, even though everyone in the international community already knows this.

Trump then added that tariffs on China might be significantly reduced, "but not zero."

From our perspective, such a statement has no meaning. The current tariff rate imposed by the U.S. on China is 145%. A reduction of 100% would also be considered "significant," but it wouldn't fundamentally solve the problem.

Trump is still dealing with China according to his previous approach, believing that as long as he implements tariff policies and constantly adjusts the rates, he can create a continuous stream of leverage.

Since Trump can bypass Congress to set tariffs, the cost of doing so is almost zero.

[Bessent is one of the few technical bureaucrats in Trump's cabinet]

China does not want the U.S. to engage in numerical games with tariff rates. Instead, China demands the complete cancellation of unreasonable reciprocal tariff policies and negotiations based on mutual respect.

With this in mind, we can understand the dilemma Bessent faces and why he described Sino-U.S. negotiations as "extremely difficult."

As the Treasury Secretary appointed by Trump, Bessent has the duty to uphold reciprocal tariff policies and ensure that the president doesn't lose face at the negotiating table. This takes priority over reaching an agreement with China.

China's attitude is clear: tariffs should not be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations. If the U.S. insists on maintaining "reciprocal tariffs" and fails to act consistently toward China, there will be no talks.

In short, the U.S. tactic of using tariff policies as bargaining chips is outdated.

Bessent said that formal negotiations between China and the U.S. have not yet begun, indicating that both sides are still in the stage of mutual testing, with significant differences remaining.

[The White House stated that the president and the government are preparing for an agreement with China]

Currently, the Trump administration urgently needs to sit down with China to boost domestic market sentiment. Bessent can only tough it out and take things step by step.

Although his tone was somewhat pessimistic, overall, he still signaled a willingness to reach an agreement with China. The mere extent of such a statement led to a slight recovery in various U.S. financial indices.

Then, someone warned that the U.S. market's reaction was "too optimistic," which was exactly what the Trump administration wanted to see.

As long as the Sino-U.S. tariff war continues, the shadow over the U.S. financial markets will never dissipate. Trump must try to reassure those business elites and give them some hope for a possible agreement between China and the U.S.

On the other hand, if Trump thinks that simply adjusting tariff rates will quickly lead to an agreement with China, it shows that his understanding of the situation is not as clear as Bessent's.

In fact, Bessent is the "firefighter" for reciprocal tariffs. The plan to pressure other countries to form a "tariff alliance" to collectively deal with China also originated from him.

In short, Bessent is trying every possible means to bargain with China in the tariff war, including informal contacts and other channels of pressure.

[China will not play the game of numerical changes in tariff rates with Trump]

However, this strategy was difficult to implement from the beginning. On one hand, Trump's reciprocal tariffs pushed the U.S. to the opposite side of the international economic order. Who wants to join the "tariff alliance" is essentially a thankless task, ultimately being taken advantage of by the U.S.;

On the other hand, China has clearly warned not to compromise to accommodate the U.S., otherwise countermeasures will follow.

Under these circumstances, other countries must weigh whether it is worth offending China to please the U.S. The EU soon stated that its relations with China and its negotiations with the U.S. are "separate issues."

In summary, the U.S. is now caught between two fronts in the Sino-U.S. tariff war. On one hand, it wants to build a "tariff alliance" to indirectly pressure China, but its plans are not taking shape; on the other hand, direct negotiations with China are fruitless, as China insists that Trump cancel reciprocal tariffs. No wonder Bessent admitted that negotiations with China would be very "difficult," as he has no cards left to play.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7496366939976811034/

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