US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expressed at the International Finance Institute (IIF) Global Outlook Forum in Washington, DC on April 23, 2025.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty images
Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Wednesday “there is an opportunity for a big deal here” on trade issues between the United States and China.
“If they want to rebalance, let’s do it together,” said Bessent during an appearance at the Institute of International Finance in Washington, DC
“This is an incredible opportunity. I think if Pontswater The founder Ray Dalio had to write something, he could call him a beautiful rebalancing. “”
Dalio, on April 13, told NBC News that he feared that President Donald Trump’s tariff and economic policies would threaten the world economy, potentially to the point of “something worse than a recession”.
Trump imposed ultra-elevated tariffs on China, 145%. Shortly before Bessent spoke on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal said the Trump administration was planning to reduce these prices between 50% and 65%, which would still be extremely high, relatively speaking.
Bessent, in his address at IIF, described what he called “a plan to restore the balance of the global financial system and institutions designed to maintain it”, in particular the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
“The IMF and the World Bank have a sustainable value,” said Bessent. “But Mission Creep has dropped these institutions. We have to adopt key reforms to ensure that Bretton Woods institutions serve their stakeholders – and not vice versa.”
He said that “intentional political choices by other countries have dug the American manufacturing sector and have undermined our critical supply chains, endangering our national and economic security.
“President Trump has taken solid measures to remedy these imbalances and the negative impacts they have on the Americans.
“This status quo of important and persistent imbalances is not durable. It is not durable for the United States, and ultimately, it is not durable for other savings.”
Bessent called the World Bank for loans to nations that have advanced economic growth, including China.
He suggested that the bank stops lending China.
“The World Bank continues to lend each year to countries that have met the criteria to graduate from the World Bank,” said Bessent.
“There is no justification for this continuous loan. It siphon the resources of higher priorities and reduces the development of private markets. It also disincited the efforts of the countries to move away from the dependence on the World Bank and towards growth focused on the private sector rich in jobs.”
Bessent has added: “In the future, the bank must establish time to present firm diplomas for countries that have long met the graduation criteria. Treating China – the second economy of the world – as a” developing country “is absurd.
“Although it has been at the expense of many Western markets, the boom of China was rapid and impressive,” he said. “If China wants to play a role in the global economy proportionate to its real importance, then the country must be graduated, we congratulate ourselves.”
– CNBC Erin Doherty contributed to this story.
Correction: Bessente spoke during an appearance at the Institute of International Finance. An earlier version disturbed the name of the organization.
