US, China reach 'framework' of trade deal, Bessent says

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the U.S. and China will likely avoid 100 percent American tariffs on Chinese good after negotiators settled on a plan for a possible trade agreement.

Bessent told NBC News’ Kristen Welker that “after two days of negotiations” with Chinese International Trade Representative Li Chenggang in Malaysia, a “framework” of a deal has been reached. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet in South Korea on Thursday, capping off the former’s five-day trip to Asia.

Earlier this month, Trump announced he would impose 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods by Nov. 1. That came in response to Beijing requiring foreign entities to obtain a license to export any products containing over 0.1 percent of rare earth minerals, either sourced in China or manufacturing via its extraction process. 

China controls roughly 70 percent of the globe’s rare earths.

“President Trump gave me a great deal of negotiating leverage with the threat of the 100 percent tariffs, and I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework that will avoid that and allow us to discuss many other things with the Chinese,” Bessent told NBC.

Earlier Sunday, Trump signed trade deals with Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Bessent also told NBC News that Trump will likely meet with Xi in Beijing prior to the Lunar New Year on Feb. 17. The president added Sunday that the two will also meet when Xi visits the U.S. next fall for the Group of 20 summit. 

“We’ve agreed to meet. We’re going to meet them later in China, and we’re going to meet in the U.S., in either Washington or at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump told reporters.

Last week, Trump predicted he and Xi would make a deal on “everything,” highlighting the U.S.’s efforts to curb the flow of fentanyl from China, boost purchases of American soybeans and de-escalate nuclear tensions.