Given Trump’s history it will be no surprise that he is likely to seek a deal with Beijing, but Bessent has also played up the possibility of a grand bargain – perhaps along the lines of the Plaza accord, named after the New York hotel in which it was struck in 1985 between a string of countries including the US, Germany, Japan and indeed the UK.
Donald Trump postponed his threat to tax all imports from Mexico and Canada this week, citing action by those countries against migration and drug smuggling; but it was telling that tariffs on China went ahead.
But Trump sees the US’s wide trade deficit with China as evidence of Beijing cheating.
When it comes to the US’s neighbours, Trump’s Treasury secretary, the hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, made clear in a Fox News interview that tariffs are essentially a negotiating tool – partly aimed at achieving non-economic goals.
So while what Trump appears to want from Mexico and Canada is a series of ill-defined political actions, he has a clear goal in his interaction with China, and that involves closing the trade gap.
