China trade escalation unfortunate, loss for them, US Treasury secretary says

China's move to impose 84% retaliatory tariffs against the United States is unfortunate and a losing proposition for Beijing, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday.

"I think 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 in an interview with Fox Business Network.

Bessent said allies wanted to discuss how to rebalance China's trade policies in talks with U.S. officials.

"That is the big win here. The U.S. is trying to rebalance toward more manufacturing. China needs to rebalance towards more consumption," he said.

Bessent also warned Beijing against trying to devalue its currency as a way to respond to the new tariffs.

"If China starts devaluing, then that is a tax on the rest of the world and everyone will have to keep raising their tariffs to offset the devaluation. So I would urge them not to do that and to come to the table," Bessent said.

He did not rule out removing Chinese stocks from U.S. exchanges, saying that all options were on the table.