Bessent, appearing at the Milken Institute conference in California Malibu, admitted that he felt satisfaction, seeing the fresh header on the front page of the paper "Washington Post", talking about Russian unrest after signing the US agreement with Ukraine.
As he suggested, Donald Trump's intention to search an agreement was to gain a negotiating advantage from the US and Ukraine, while at the same time showing that between Washington and Kiev "there is no discrepancy". According to Bessent, the aim was besides to supply ‘presumed safety guarantees’ to the Ukrainian side.
He recalled that erstwhile he went to Kiev in March to sign a contract, the Russians first bombed the capital of Ukraine just on his arrival, which he interpreted as an opposition to the prepared agreement.
— If we are so pro-Russian and this agreement was bad for Ukrainians, why didn't the Russians want to sign it? At the same time, he assessed that the final arrangement, signed in Washington last week, was better and more complete than the project, which he did not sign due to an argument during the visit of president Volodymyr Zelenski to the White House. He besides added that the agreement is beneficial for both parties and does not mean exploiting Ukraine.
— This is not 1 of those greedy Chinese deals like: “Sign here, (...) you will not pay your debt, we will own all your minerals.” This is an economical partnership. They put in assets. We put capital, best American practices and know-how. And that's 50-50, that's capital, not debt," Bessent argued.
US Treasury Secretary: "significant progress" in talks with China on the horizon
During his speech, the Minister besides raised the issue of US trade negotiations with partners. He estimated that 17 countries that had submitted written proposals to date offered Washington good terms.
Bessent felt that any agreements could be signed soon, even this week. He previously announced that the closest to the finals were the agreements with India and South Korea. At the same time, he predicted that there could be "significant progress" in trade talks with China in the coming weeks.
