Trump says he won’t play ‘hardball’ with China or mention COVID — after Bessent calls tariff standoff unsustainable

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Tuesday that he won’t engage in “hardball” trade negotiations with China or mention COVID-19 — hours after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a prolonged US trade war with Beijing was unsustainable.

“No, I’m not going to mention COVID. I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to play hardball with China, I’m going to play hardball with you, President Xi.’ No, we’re going to be very nice,” Trump told a Post reporter in the Oval Office.

“We’ll see what happens. But ultimately, they have to make a deal, because otherwise they’re not going to be able to deal in the United States. And we want them involved.”

“If they don’t make a deal,” Trump added, “we’ll set the deal, because we’re the ones that set the deal … and it’ll be a fair deal for everybody.”

Bessent said earlier Tuesday he believes the Trump administration’s ongoing tariff war with China will de-escalate soon due to the potential impact on the economy.

“145% is very high,” Trump said in the Oval Office about the current top rate on Chinese products.

“It won’t be that high. No, it won’t be anywhere near that high, it will come down substantially, but it won’t be zero.”

As a candidate, Trump floated slapping China with a multitrillion-dollar reparations bill for COVID-19 on top of tariffs, which he started implementing weeks into his term, beginning with a 20% levy to penalize illicit fentanyl exports.

The president has since backed away from his stance on financial penalties for the pandemic, which killed more than 1 million Americans after possibly leaking from a Wuhan lab that was doing risky “gain of function” research.

Shortly before Trump’s remarks, Bessent gave stocks a boost by forecasting a shift in China tariffs at JPMorgan’s closed-door investor summit in Washington.

The reported comments helped cause shares to spike on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all closing up at least 2.5% Tuesday.

Bessent added that he was optimistic a deal was possible — even though negotiations with Beijing have not yet begun, those in attendance said.

For the moment, Bessent reportedly told his audience, the US and China effectively have a trade embargo in place after reciprocal duties reached 125% on American products and up to 145% on Chinese goods.

Bessent spoke as finance ministers and bankers from around the world gathered for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings in the nation’s capital to discuss the fallout from Trump’s sweeping global tariffs.

China vowed on Monday to retaliate against any country that chooses to strike deals with the US in order to win a reprieve from Trump’s levies.

“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” the Communist government fired off in a statement.

“If this happens, China will never accept it and will resolutely take countermeasures in a reciprocal manner. China is determined and capable of safeguarding its own rights and interests.”

On April 9, Trump suspended a planned slate of reciprocal tariffs against all other nations save China for 90 days, a pause meant to allow time for the US to reach a series of one-on-one trade deals with its key trading partners.

“For one’s own temporary selfish interests, sacrificing the interests of others in exchange for so-called exemptions is like seeking the skin from a tiger. It will ultimately only fail on both ends and harm others without benefiting themselves,” the Chinese statement said.

“The United States has abused tariffs on all trading partners under the banner of so-called ‘equivalence,’ while also forcing all parties to start so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’ negotiations with them.”