Catenaa, Wednesday, October 15, 2025- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the US won’t change its trade negotiating stance on China due to stock market volatility.
“We won’t negotiate because the stock market is going down,” or shy away from taking strong measures against Beijing for that reason, Bessent said in an exclusive interview at CNBC on Wednesday.
“We will negotiate because we are doing what is best economically for the US,” he said.
Bessent also pushed back on a report in The Wall Street Journal overnight that Chinese President Xi Jinping is “betting that the US economy can’t absorb a prolonged trade conflict” with Beijing.
The Cabinet secretary called that report “terrible,” accusing the newspaper of taking “CCP dictation.”
His comments came as markets have whipsawed in recent days, as the status of ongoing trade talks between the world’s largest economies appeared to teeter.
Stocks tanked on Friday after Trump threatened to hike tariffs on Chinese imports in retaliation for new export controls that China imposed on rare earth minerals.
Trump appeared to soften his tone over the weekend, spurring a market rebound on Monday. Major stock indexes bounced around in volatile trading on Tuesday and opened green on Wednesday.
The S&P 500 is still down by 0.8% in the last five trading days, while the Nasdaq is down by 1.6%.
The S&P 500 dived into the session close after Trump issued yet another trade threat against China, this one accusing Beijing of economic hostility for not buying US soybeans.
Bessent added Wednesday that while President Donald Trump “likes a high stock market,” he “believes that the high stock market is a result of good policies.”
“It’s the policies that we’re talking about here today, in terms of this capex boom,” Bessent said, highlighting increased investment in artificial intelligence.
