Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks after the 2026 G20 Financial Meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, on September 1, 2026.
CNBC
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that China was the only G20 member to oppose a joint statement that said “it is not sustainable for non-market-based economies to pump out cheap exports indefinitely.”
Bessent said at a news conference after days of meetings with finance ministers and central bank officials in Asheville, North Carolina, that other G20 members will take action in the coming “days, weeks, and months” to “resolve this unsustainable equilibrium.”
The statement, released by the Treasury Department late Tuesday, includes a footnote stating that China opposed a passage in which 19 countries agreed that “countries should take steps to eliminate non-market policies and practices that exacerbate imbalances.”
“In particular, countries with excessive and persistent external surpluses should remove distortions that constrain domestic consumption and over-reliance on exports for growth.”
The Treasury said China also objected to a text expressing concern about continued disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route that Iran has effectively cut off amid its war with the United States.
China also praised the International Monetary Fund’s “monitoring of global imbalances” and objected to a text that named “countries that owe a significant portion of their external debt to G20 members.”
The U.S. Embassy in China did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Bessent’s comments on the joint statement.
“I had hoped to present a unanimous joint communiqué today,” Bessent told reporters, stressing that the agreement by 19 other countries “understands the scale of the problem.”
The remarks came as Bessent spearheads the Trump administration’s plan to shut down Iran’s economy by threatening business partners with secondary sanctions, dubbed “Operation Economic Purge.”
The effort raises questions about whether the U.S. will target China, Iran’s largest trading partner and by far its biggest buyer of oil. The United States is in long-term trade talks with China, and Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the United States in late September.
“We have more similarities than differences when it comes to China and Iran,” Bessent said Tuesday.
“China agrees that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. China agrees that we need free sea trade in the Strait of Hormuz. China gets 50 percent of its energy from the Gulf,” he said.
“Therefore, I believe it is up to China, or China, to work toward a resolution,” Bessent added. “Let’s see how they do.”
