U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Asheville, North Carolina, on Sunday that G20 members should re-examine trade with China to reduce global imbalances. He said China’s export flood is unsustainable and that Beijing needs to shift from exports toward domestic consumption. Bessent said the world cannot have a China with a $1.2 trillion trade surplus. He also said the United States has already walled off many Chinese exports with tariffs and bans.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Asheville, N.C., Aug. 30. AP-Yonhap
ASHEVILLE, North Carolina — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday that he will encourage G20 member countries to re-examine their terms of trade with China as part of efforts to shrink global imbalances and press Beijing to rebalance its economy away from exports towards more domestic consumption.
Bessent said in an interview ahead of a G20 finance leaders meeting that the current flood of exports from China was unsustainable, even though the U.S. direct trade position with China was "rapidly improving."
"The world cannot have a China with a $1.2 trillion trade surplus," Bessent said. "In China, the economy is quite weak, and they are trying to export their way out of it, and they need to rebalance their economy."
