Exclusive | Treasury secretary tells Pod Force One Chinas 30% share of global manufacturing is too high and it cant go higher

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that China’s share of global manufacturing had become far “too high” in recent years — and the Trump administration needed to restore balance.“President Trump wants the US to manufacture more and become a manufacturing powerhouse for precision manufacturing again.And the Chinese keep trying to up their share of manufacturing,” Bessent told Post columnist Miranda Devine in the latest episode of “Pod Force One,” out Wednesday.Every week, Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington.

Subscribe here!The Treasury chief noted that Beijing’s 30% share of manufacturing worldwide already “is too high — and it can’t go higher.”Bessent has been in talks seeking a permanent US-China trade deal with the potential for more American exports after meeting for an initial conference in Switzerland with Beijing negotiators in May.The objective had been to cool tensions in the trade war that had escalated after the US placed 145% tariffs on China.Beijing slapped American imports with a 125% rate in response.The US team eventually managed to get the Chinese tariff rate down to 10% while levying a counter-rate against Beijing of 30%.

That’s on top of the 25% duty already in place.The two parties then met again in London last week to discuss getting rid of Chinese exports controls, Bessent told “Pod Force One.”“We were trying to take off the export controls.So the magnets were not flowing as promised in Geneva.

Unclear how much was just a glitch in the Chinese system, which is a slow command and control system.In the meantime, we had put some countermeasures on them.

Some of them got publicity.We had embargoed aircraft engines, engine parts,” he went on.

Trump made an announcement following the London talks that the US and China had reached a deal.“Our deal with China is done, subject to final approval w...