The view that the Chinese leadership was desperate to negotiate a trade deal, to avoid economic pain that could destabilize Chinese society and threaten the Chinese Communist Party’s monopoly on power, is common among China hawks in the United States. This analysis is partly accurate, but it has led many to draw false conclusions.

Secretary Treasury Scott Bessent said both the U.S. and China don’t want the trade war to escalate. However, he said it’s China’s responsibility to ensure that doesn’t happen. As the U.S. and China stare each down amid their ongoing trade war,

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said “all aspects” of the US government are in contact with China but that it’s up to Beijing to take the first step in de-escalating the tariff fight with the US due to the imbalance of trade between the two nations.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday did not back President Donald Trump's assertion that tariff talks with China were under way and said he did not know if the U.S. president had talked to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump has held up tariffs as a negotiating tool with China and claimed talks are ongoing, but Beijing says so far there have not been any negotiations.

China’s President Xi Jinping has not called President Donald Trump, Beijing said Monday, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary. Trump said in an interview with Time magazine that Xi had already contacted him after Trump triggered a trade war between their countries—the two largest economies in the world—with punishing tariffs.