Treasury Secretary says Trump "goaded China into a bad position" with tariffs

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated China’s tariffs will rise to 125% due to the country’s “insistence on escalation.”

Transcript

00:00All this was, again, this was driven by the president's strategy.

00:04He and I had a long talk on Sunday, and this was his strategy all along.

00:10And that, you know, you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position.

00:17They responded, they have shown themselves to the world to be the bad actors.

00:21And we are willing to cooperate with our allies and with our trading partners who did not retaliate.

00:30It wasn't a hard message.

00:31Don't retaliate.

00:33Things will turn out well.