India 'Recalcitrant' on Trade Negotiations, Bessent Says
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that wrapping up remaining trade deals by October is "aspirational" in part because India has been "recalcitrant" during trade negotiations.
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In an Aug. 12 interview with Fox Business, Bessent said that the U.S. is in a "good position" regarding trade deals still being negotiate, but that "Switzerland is still around [and] India has been a bit recalcitrant." He said that the "hard part" would be finalizing legal terms, which was being handled by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and his team: "He's got 200 lawyers or something ... busy papering all this over."
Should the courts side against the Trump administration's use of tariffs through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Bessent said, "it will immediately be enjoined, so the tariffs will likely continue." He said that the Trump administration will appeal to the Supreme Court and expect a favorable ruling in January because as more deals are made, "it gets harder and harder for SCOTUS to rule against us."
The fentanyl tariffs levied against China are unlikely to be reduced soon, as Bessent said that there will need to be "months, if not quarters, if not a year, of progress" on China's supply of precursor fentanyl chemicals before he "could imagine those tariffs coming down." He said that he hopes "the Chinese will want to make substantial progress on that" and there will be meetings with Chinese counterparts "within the next two or three months."
Additionally, Bessent said that a "tariff buyout" like the investment funds involved in the deals with Japan and the EU is unlikely for China because "a lot of the buyout, or the funds from the buyout," will go to critical industries that "we need to reshore, and a lot of those need to be reshored away from China."