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Bessent says 19 of 20 G20 finance chiefs agreed to address cheap imports, with China dissenting
ReBessent says 19 of 20 G20 finance chiefs agreed to address cheap imports, with China dissenting
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said 19 of the G20's finance ministers agreed to address the flow of cheap exports that create global economic imbalances, but singled out China as the sole dissenter after a two-day meeting of finance chiefs.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that 19 of the G20's finance ministers agreed to address streams of cheap exports that cause global economic imbalances, but said China was the lone dissenter. Bessent spoke at the close of a two-day meeting with finance ministers and central bankers, where he pressed counterparts to adopt measures similar to the Trump administration's use of tariffs to crack down on trade imbalances.
«We believe that non-market-based economies pushing out a never-ending stream of cheap exports is not sustainable,» Bessent told reporters, describing the sentiment shared by all but one G20 member. «It is clear that the country with the world's largest and unsustainable current account surplus, the People's Republic of China, was the dissenter.» The Trump administration has repeatedly blamed China for trade imbalances that leave the United States with a sizable deficit while Beijing runs a large surplus.
Bessent also previewed the upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping later this month. He said he had warned other nations at the start of Trump's second term that the new U.S. tariff wall would push Chinese goods into their markets. «And unfortunately, I was right,» Bessent said. «The rest of the world probably needs to take a hard look at what they should be doing to protect their citizens' jobs, their manufacturing base, so that everything they do doesn't get offshored.»
The treasury secretary added that Trump and Xi would discuss artificial intelligence policy during their meeting, saying more guardrails were needed to prevent non-state actors from building their own models. Bessent said he has told industry leaders directly that AI companies have done a poor job explaining themselves to the American public. «They're going to have to take some of the blame, and they are going to have to convince the American people that all the benefits will not accrue to a small group,» he said.
After the press conference, Trump posted on his social media platform that «very productive and positive conversations were had» during the G20 meetings, adding that other countries «should follow our lead.»
The administration's tariff policies have drawn criticism from economists and politicians who say they raise costs for U.S. consumers and often punish allies. The Tax Foundation, an independent think tank, found that tariffs imposed throughout 2025 raised retail prices of imported consumer goods by roughly 7 percent relative to pre-tariff trends. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February that sweeping global tariffs imposed under an emergency powers law were unconstitutional, prompting the administration to overhaul its approach. It is now considering an additional 7.5 percent tariff on Chinese imports after investigating alleged excess industrial capacity and forced-labor regulations.
Bessent met with his Chinese counterparts at the summit and reported some common ground on Iran, specifically that Tehran «cannot have a nuclear weapon» and that oil and other goods should flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz. He has cited China's trade surplus, which reached a record $1.2 trillion in 2025, as a barrier to global economic growth.
Global debt has reached a record $353 trillion, with U.S. debt hitting $40 trillion in August. Despite market concerns about a sell-off in U.S. government bonds, Bessent said, «I don't think we're in any kind of dire situation» on bond markets.
The presence of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov continued to stir discomfort among attendees. Siluanov met with Bessent on Monday on the sidelines but was excluded from the traditional family photo of ministers. Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Russia's attendance «created a lot of discomfort around the table,» and European Commissioner for the Economy Valdis Dombrovskis said it is not the time to normalize relations with Moscow. Bessent defended Siluanov's inclusion, arguing that «if the sides don't talk, if we are not engaged, then how can it be solved?»
