Bessent sees de-escalation in US-China trade tensions, talks to be 'a slog'

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he believes there will be a de-escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions, but described future negotiations with Beijing as a "slog" that has not started yet, according to a person who heard his closed-door presentation to investors at a JP Morgan conference.

Bessent described the current bilateral trade situation as an embargo, and neither side sees the status quo as sustainable, adding that the Trump administration's goal was not to decouple the world's two largest economies, the person said.

Instead, Bessent said that he was hoping for a "big, beautiful rebalancing" of China's economy towards more consumption and the U.S. economy towards more manufacturing, but it was unclear whether Beijing was ready to do that.