ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that 19 Group of 20 members have agreed to address the flow of “cheap exports” that are causing imbalances in the global economy, but China has opposed it.
Mr Bessent said it was “incredible” that even 19 countries had agreed to tackle the issue and showed “the enormity of the problem”. Bessent spoke after a two-day meeting of 20 countries in Asheville, North Carolina.
Bessent earlier said he was urging some G20 countries to take a cue from the Trump administration’s strategy of using tariffs and other measures to crack down. trade imbalance.
China is the main source of the “cheap exports” that Bessent criticized, and the administration joins many economists in blaming China for the trade imbalance in which the United States runs a huge deficit while China has a huge trade surplus. During Tuesday’s closing news conference, Bessent also previewed an upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
He told reporters that he had warned other countries at the beginning. President Donald Trump A second term claims that a new U.S. “tariff wall” will mean Chinese products will flood the market.
“Unfortunately, I was right,” Bessent told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers’ meeting. “Perhaps the rest of the world needs to take a hard look at what they can do to protect their people’s jobs and manufacturing bases and make sure that everything they do doesn’t go overseas.”
The Trump administration’s tariff policies have been criticized by economists and politicians for raising costs for U.S. consumers and often punishing allies. The Tax Foundation, an independent think tank, found that the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration throughout 2025 increased overall retail prices of imported consumer goods by about 7% compared to pre-tariff trends.
In the end, the U.S. Supreme Court Decided in February They argued that the sweeping global tariffs that President Trump imposed under the Emergency Powers Act during his second term were unconstitutional. The Trump administration is overhauling its approach and is considering imposing an additional 7.5% tariff on Chinese imports after investigating China’s alleged overcapacity and forced labor regulations.
Bessent met with Chinese officials at the summit and said there were some commonalities regarding Iran, particularly that Iran “cannot have nuclear weapons” and that oil and other goods should flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz, which is restricted by Iran.
He also said that Trump and Xi plan to discuss AI policy when they meet later this month. “It is incumbent upon all of us to put guardrails in place to prevent non-state actors from building their own models.”
Bessent said China’s trade surplus, which will reach a record $1.2 trillion in 2025, is hampering global economic growth, as well as what he calls overregulation.
Global debt reaches record high of $353 trillion, US debt reaches record high Recorded $40 trillion In August. Although the market is concerned about a decline in U.S. Treasuries, Bessent told reporters, “I don’t think we’re in any kind of dire situation.”
Meanwhile, the presence of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov continues to upset attendees at the U.S.-hosted conference, although Siluanov met with Bessent on the sidelines of the meeting on Monday but was not included in the traditional “family photo” of ministers.
Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Russia’s presence at the G20 finance meeting “caused a lot of discomfort, not only in Canada but also from colleagues around the table.”
“We made sure that our discomfort was communicated to our colleagues about who was attending the meeting,” Champagne said.
European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in a press conference with reporters on Tuesday that it was not the time to “normalize” relations with Russia.
Mr. Bessent defended Mr. Siluanov’s invitation, saying, “If both sides don’t talk and we don’t get involved, how can we solve the problem?”
“I know it was a distaste for some Europeans, but if both sides are cornered there will never be a resolution to this terrible conflict,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
