Overview
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration is not in a hurry to extend a tariff and critical‑minerals truce with China that expires in November, speaking in Paris during G7 finance meetings.
- Bessent said he expects Beijing would accept restoring prior U.S. tariff rates through new Section 301 actions as long as the duties do not exceed earlier levels.
- Section 301 is a U.S. trade law that lets the government levy tariffs after finding unfair practices, offering a legal path to reapply pressure after a Supreme Court ruling curtailed broader emergency tariff powers.
- He called China’s delivery on critical‑minerals commitments “satisfactory, but not excellent,” and said U.S. officials will follow up in upcoming engagements.
- Bessent said he will meet Chinese counterpart He Lifeng before an expected September Xi–Trump summit, and he described talks expanding to identify about $30 billion in noncritical goods for lower tariffs, launch AI guardrail consultations, and set an investment protocol that outlines deals not requiring CFIUS security reviews.