The US Finance Minister appeals to Europe. “Be ready to impose tariffs on China for buying oil from Russia”

U.S. Finance Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that the United States is ready to impose tariffs on China for buying Russian oil, but European allies must also be willing to take such action.

Bessent assured in an interview with CNBC that US President Donald Trump is ready to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping and declared that Washington does not want to escalate the trade conflict with Beijing, nor does it want to break off economic contacts with it. He assessed that the situation did not escalate due to the trust between the two leaders.

At the same time, he emphasized that the declines in the stock markets would not cause the authorities to change their approach in trade negotiations with China. He added that the US president “likes” high stock market prices, but believes that they are the result of well-conducted policies. – We will not negotiate because the stock markets are falling. We will negotiate because we do what is best economically for the US, he said. The minister also added that the authorities do not intend to avoid taking strong actions against Beijing for this reason.

He also referred to the export controls on rare earth metals announced by Beijing. He said that in August, a Chinese official visited the U.S. and threatened that China would “create chaos in the global” trading system if the Americans moved forward on port fees.

– This is (the problem of) China versus the world. This is not a China-US problem. Fortunately, it's International Monetary Fund week and my counterparts are here. We will talk to our European allies, Australia, Canada, India and the Asian democracies. We will have a group response to this because the bureaucrats in China cannot manage the supply chain or the production process of the rest of the world, Bessent said. – We don't want to harm their economy. We think they don't want to harm ours either, he added. He announced at a press conference that the US and its allies would not allow China to control their economies.

“If anyone in the Chinese government wants to slow down the world economy through disappointing actions and economic coercion, the Chinese economy will suffer the most,” the minister warned.

Bessent also said that China's purchase of Russian oil fuels the Russian war machine. According to him, China buys 60 percent. Russian energy and 90 percent Iranian energy. He assured that Washington is ready to impose tariffs on China over purchases of Russian oil, but that the US's European allies must also be willing to take such action.

– President Trump instructed me to tell our European allies that we would be in favor of, let's call it, a tariff on China for Russian oil or a tariff on China in favor of a Ukrainian victory. Our European allies must want to join, said the minister. He informed that senators support imposing a tariff on China of up to 500%. for purchasing Russian oil.

– We hear that the European Parliament will not adopt a similar solution. I keep hearing from Europeans that Putin is going to Warsaw. There are few things in life I'm sure of, but I'm sure it's not going to Boston. So we will respond if our European allies join us,” Bessent said.

Trump on Tuesday said he was considering breaking off certain trade deals with China, such as the import of cooking oil. The S&P stock index reacted to the president's entry with declines and ended the day in negative territory.

On Sunday, Trump said that despite the threat of an intensification of the trade war with China, “everything will be fine” in relations between the superpowers, suggesting that the reason for the dispute was a “bad day” of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Two days earlier, Trump announced that on November 1 he would impose a new 100% tariff on China. in response to the export restrictions on rare earth metals announced by China.

From Washington Natalia Dziurdzińska (PAP)

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