Washington:
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that he was not currently not concerned about American stores that may no longer have any items because of President Donald Trump's rates.
The US president has introduced a basic line rate of 10 percent against most countries, and a much higher levy of a total of 145 percent on goods from China.
The White House also introduced various sector -specific rates of 25 percent and has threatened to reset higher measures to dozens of trading partners if they do not reach a deal to reduce trade barriers with the United States.
Asked during an interview with “Fox and Friends” if he was concerned about reports of empty shelves because of the rates, Bessent replied: “Not at the moment.”
“We have some great retailers,” he said during the Fox News interview. “I assume they ordered in advance.”
“I think we will see some elasticities. I think we will see replacements, and then we will see how quickly the Chinese people want to de-escalate.”
Most countries chose not to respond to the new rates of the Trump administration, with the exception of China, which go back with its own targeted measures against American goods.
Beijing has announced mutual rates of a maximum of 15 percent against American agricultural goods such as soybeans, corn and beef, and an extra minimum 125 percent sweeping rate for all American imports.
“I think it is not sustainable on the Chinese side, so maybe they will call me one day,” said Bessent.
“In the history of trade negotiations or trade delays, it is the excess country that always loses the most,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by Our staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
