On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent responded to a question on whether or not a trade deal with China is needed by stating that “China is, right now, the biggest revenue line in the tariff income” and remarking, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” But Bessent also said there have been “very good talks with China” and he thinks there will be further discussions with them.
Host Laura Ingraham asked, [relevant exchange begins around 8:30] “When do you expect that we will see movement on the China talks, and do we need a trade agreement with China, given how well the tariffs are working out?”
Bessent answered, “Look, we’re very happy is — we had 20% — about 20, 25% tariffs in President Trump’s first term. We’ve added 20% fentanyl tariffs, 10% baseline tariffs. So, we’re at 50 or 55%. China is, right now, the biggest revenue line in the tariff income. So, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. We have had very good talks with China. I imagine we’ll be seeing them again before November. They have a 10% tariff on us. They have started shipping the rare earth magnets, which we agreed to. We had put some countermeasures on them that we’ve taken off. So, I think, right now, the status quo’s working pretty well.”
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