When asked whether a broader trade agreement might be reached with China, beyond the current tariff truce, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said each of the four meetings has become more productive. There will need to be a fifth meeting before the truce expires Nov. 10, he told CNBC from London on Sept. 16. "I think the Chinese now sense a trade deal is more possible," he said.
After two days of talks between U.S. and Chinese officials, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that they and Chinese counterpart Vice Premier He Lifeng have a "framework" for a deal for China's Byte Dance to divest TikTok to U.S. buyers, and that deal will be completed on Sept. 19 as Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump talk about the divestiture.
President Donald Trump is getting closer to ramping up financial sanctions pressure against Russia for its failure to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine, said Keith Kellogg, the president’s special envoy for Ukraine.
President Donald Trump posted over the weekend that he's prepared to levy new sanctions against Moscow if U.S. allies stop purchasing Russian oil and potentially put in place other sanctions against the country.
The president of Mexico has introduced a bill increasing tariffs on goods from countries with which it does not have a free trade agreement, including China. The measure would bring most tariffs to a rate of 35%, with some as high as 50%.
Two Republican senators took to the Senate floor this week to reiterate their support for increasing sanctions on Russia to pressure it to end its war against Ukraine.
The U.S. is prepared to increase pressure on Russia through coordinated sanctions with the EU, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sept. 7 on NBC's "Meet the Press." Bessent said that if the EU and the U.S. "can come in, do more sanctions, secondary tariffs on the countries that buy Russian oil," then the Russian economy "will be in full collapse. And that will bring President [Vladimir] Putin to the table." His comments come after what he described as a "very productive" phone call with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. He said that the EU and the U.S. are in a race between how long the Ukrainian military can "hold up, versus how long can the Russian economy hold up."
H.R. McMaster, former national security adviser during the first Trump administration, said he disagrees with the government's plan to approve exports of Nvidia's advanced H20 chips to China (see 2508220003) and hopes the administration soon develops a more coherent economic security strategy.
The Commerce Department’s spring 2025 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security features more than 20 new rulemakings that could introduce new or update existing export controls, including restrictions over advanced AI chips, emerging technologies, Russia-related controls and other revisions to the Export Administration Regulations.
Democrats in the Senate are arguing that it's time to pass a bipartisan bill that would authorize up to 500% tariffs on goods from countries that buy Russian oil and gas and aren't providing aid to Ukraine to defend itself.