Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will speak by phone on Friday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss the ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and China, a senior Trump administration official told CNBC’s Eamon Javers.
Additional details about the call, including the specific time it would take place or the next steps that would be discussed, were not immediately clear.
But the scheduled conversation could signal progress in the U.S.-China relationship, which hit a rocky patch this past week after President Donald Trump reacted to Beijing’s new export controls by threatening an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports.
Trump, asked in a Fox Business interview if that heavy new tariff could stand, said, “It’s not sustainable, but that’s what the number is.”
“It’s probably not, you know, it could stand, but they forced me to do that,” Trump said in the interview, a portion of which aired Friday morning.
Trump added, “I think we’re going to do fine with China.”
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
