U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that 19 of the G20's 20 members agreed to address the flow of "cheap exports" driving global economic imbalances, with China notably dissenting. Speaking after a two-day G20 finance ministers' meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, Bessent called getting 19 countries to agree on the issue "incredible," adding that the near-unanimous consensus itself showed "the sheer enormity of the problem."
A Push to Follow the U.S. Playbook
Bessent said he's been urging his G20 counterparts to take a page from the Trump administration's approach, using tariffs and similar measures to push back against trade imbalances. China, a leading source of the "cheap exports" Bessent has repeatedly criticised, has been blamed by the administration, echoing many economists, for trade imbalances that have left China with a large surplus while the U.S. runs a sizable deficit.
At a closing press conference Tuesday, Bessent also previewed the upcoming meeting between President Trump and China's President Xi Jinping, and pointed back to warnings he'd given other nations at the start of Trump's second term. "And unfortunately, I was right," he told reporters, referring to his earlier prediction that the new U.S. "tariff wall" would push Chinese goods to flood other markets instead. "The rest of the world probably needs to take a hard look at what they should be doing to protect their citizens' jobs, their manufacturing base, so that everything they do doesn't get offshored," he said.
The Broader Tariff Debate
The Trump administration's tariff policies have drawn criticism from economists and politicians who argue they've raised costs for U.S. consumers while, in many cases, straining relationships with allies. The Tax Foundation, an independent think tank, found that tariffs imposed by the administration throughout 2025 raised the overall retail price of imported consumer goods by roughly 7% relative to pre-tariff trends.
The legal landscape has also shifted significantly: in February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the sweeping global tariffs Trump had imposed under emergency powers authority were unconstitutional, prompting the administration to overhaul its approach. It's now reportedly weighing an additional 7.5% tariff on Chinese imports, following an investigation into alleged Chinese excess industrial capacity and forced-labor practices.
Some Common Ground on Iran and AI
Despite the friction over trade, Bessent said his meetings with Chinese counterparts at the summit did surface some common ground, specifically around Iran, both sides agreeing that Iran "cannot have a nuclear weapon" and that oil and other goods should be able to flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has restricted.
He also said Trump and Xi are expected to discuss AI policy when they meet later this month, saying it "behooves all of us to put up guardrails... to prevent the non-state actors" from building their own AI models outside any regulatory framework.
China's Trade Surplus and Global Debt Concerns
Bessent has repeatedly pointed to China's trade surplus, which reached a record $1.2 trillion in 2025, as a barrier to global economic growth, alongside what he describes as excessive regulation more broadly. Separately, global debt has climbed to a record $353 trillion, with U.S. debt itself reaching a record $40 trillion in August. Despite market concerns over a potential sell-off in U.S. government bonds, Bessent told reporters, "I don't think we're in any kind of dire situation" on that front.
Russia's Presence Sparks Tension
The meeting itself was overshadowed for some attendees by the presence of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who met with Bessent on Monday on the sidelines but was notably excluded from the traditional "family photo" of ministers.
Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Russia's attendance "created a lot of discomfort around the table, not only from Canada, but from colleagues around the table," adding, "We have made sure our discomfort is being heard by colleagues with respect to who is in attendance at the meeting." European Commissioner for the Economy Valdis Dombrovskis said separately that it isn't the time to "normalize" relations with Russia.
Bessent defended Siluanov's inclusion, arguing that dialogue is necessary for any resolution: "If the sides don't talk, if we are not engaged, then how can it be solved?" He acknowledged the discomfort some European counterparts felt, but added, "if both fighters go in a corner, then there will never be a resolution to this horrible conflict."
FAQs
Q1. How many G20 countries agreed to address "cheap exports," and who dissented?
19 of the 20 G20 members agreed, with China dissenting.
Q2. What common ground did Bessent say he found with China on Iran?
Both sides agreed Iran "cannot have a nuclear weapon" and that oil and other goods should flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz.
Q3. Why was Russia's presence at the meeting controversial?
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov attended and met with Bessent, but was excluded from the traditional group photo, drawing criticism from Canada and other G20 members over discomfort with Russia's inclusion.
Q4. What is China's current trade surplus, according to Bessent?
A record $1.2 trillion in 2025, which Bessent has cited as a barrier to global economic growth.