Bessent Warns Reciprocal Tariffs Will Return Without 'Good Faith' Talks

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Source: Newsweek

Published May 18, 2025 at 2:17 PM EDT


U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned during a Sunday appearance on NBC News' Meet the Press that countries failing to negotiate in "good faith" with the United States could face a return to reciprocal tariff levels that were unveiled on "Liberation Day" on April 2. Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's press team for comment via email on Sunday.

Why It Matters

Bessent's tariff comments come after the U.S. and China agreed to pause their reciprocal tariffs for 90 days last week, with both sides bringing their rates down by 115 percentage points. This agreement reduced the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods by President Donald Trump to 30 percent, and those imposed on U.S. goods by Beijing to 10 percent. The two power economies are continuing negotiations during this pause.

On April 2, Trump announced a series of sweeping global tariffs, including a baseline 10 percent on all imported goods and the widely anticipated "reciprocal" tariffs. Their implementation led the stock markets to drop drastically, with Wall Street posting its worst losses since 2020 and trillions of dollars in value erased. Shortly after the "reciprocal" tariffs went into effect in April, Trump paused most of them for 90 days, which sent the markets surging. Notably, he did not delay tariffs on China then.

Economists and experts have warned that Trump's tariffs, which are effectively a tax imposed on imported goods, will inevitably increase costs for Americans. Trump has defended his policies saying the tariffs will cause "some little pain" upfront but in the long term will be "worth the price that must be paid."

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/bessent-warns-reciprocal-tariffs-will-return-without-good-faith-talks-2073819