This is The Takeaway from today’s Morning Brief, which you can sign up to receive in your inbox every morning along with:
It wasn’t what was said, but what wasn’t said.
That’s what I have been telling the CEOs who have reached out following my chat with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier this week (video above). I very much enjoyed my 23-minute chat with the secretary, full-stop. I learned a lot in a short period and greatly appreciated his time.
He is level-headed and deeply understands market history and market plumbing — no doubt a by-product of his decades spent in the hedge fund industry. Of course, these are good traits to have as a Treasury secretary if things go to hell in a handbasket (see the Great Financial Crisis).
But at the end of the day, I came away thinking the cloud of uncertainty hanging over markets on tariff policy — a key market headwind — should remain in place in the near term. Consequently, any rallies in stocks like we saw after the recent electronics tariff exclusions should be treated as short-lived.
Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump’s tariffs
In the center of this uncertainty cloud is, naturally, China. The two superpowers seem light-years apart in calling some form of trade truce.
When I asked the secretary if he had talked to his Chinese counterpart, this is what he replied:
“We did an introductory call a couple of months ago. We haven’t spoken since. I’m not sure who from PRC [People’s Republic of China] will be [here] next week — it’s a big week in Washington. It’s the International Monetary Fund World Bank Week. So I know that the People’s Republic will send someone from finance, probably the PBOC, People’s Bank of China governor. So they will be here. You know, I may bump into them. We don’t have anything scheduled,” Bessent said.
Wow, bump into them in a hallway? That’s where things are at? Not great.
Then there was this response to whether tariff deals will be inked with up to 130 countries by the time the 90-day pause ends:
“Let’s set aside China. There are 15 large trading partners. We set aside China. There are 14, and we’re in rapid motion and setting up a process for the 14 largest trading partners, most of whom have very large deficits. So, in 90 days, are we going to have a complete doc, a formal legal document done and dusted? Not likely,” Bessent said.
However, he did note that a framework could be worked out within the pause period.
