WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed Wednesday that he expects India to strike the first bilateral trade deal to avoid President Trump’s suite of “reciprocal” tariffs — with any potential agreement with China “put to the side” for now.
Bessent told a roundtable of about a dozen reporters that trade talks with India were “very close” to reaching a successful conclusion because the world’s most populous nation doesn’t have “so many high tariffs.”
India also has “fewer non-tariff trade barriers, obviously, no currency manipulation, very, very little government subsidies, so that reaching a deal with the Indians is much easier,” Bessent said at the DC event on the sidelines of the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings.
Vice President JD Vance and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a roadmap Tuesday to proceed with trade talks to avoid a possible 26% tariff rate taking effect in early July.
Trump has demanded that other countries break down their tariffs and non-tariff barriers to American goods, as well as eliminate US trade deficits.
India accounted for nearly 3% of imported goods to the US as of February, according to Census Bureau data. The US had a $45.7 billion trade deficit with India in 2024, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.
Bessent also said Wednesday that Chinese trade negotiations were not proceeding, despite repeating that he views current tariff rates topping 145% on Beijing’s imports as not feasible.
“Neither side believes that these are sustainable levels, so I would not be surprised if they went down in a mutual way” the treasury secretary told reporters, before insisting that Trump would not unilaterally offer to reduce duties from the American side.
“As I said yesterday, this is the equivalent of an embargo, and a break between the two countries in trade does not suit anyone’s interest … I think the Chinese trade minister called it a joke,” Bessent added. “They must have a different sense of humor in China than we do, because I don’t think any of this is funny, but I do think that de-escalation by both sides is possible.”
Bessent also said that talks continue to focus on America’s top 15 trading partners apart from China — a list that includes Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the United Kingdom.
A Japanese delegation left Washington last week without announcing a final deal to avert that nation’s possible 24% rate, but announced plans for a second round of discussions later this month.
Trump’s massive new “reciprocal” duties took effect April 9 but were paused hours later to allow for 90 days of negotiations. The president left in effect a new 10% baseline tariff on most imports.
