Bessent Presses China to Deliver on Busan Deal, Says Progress Needs Results

Washington isn't waiting around. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that he and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer got on the phone with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng earlier in the day — and the message was blunt: Beijing needs to live up to the Busan arrangement, and it needs to do it now.

In a readout of the call, Bessent said the pair pushed the point that China must fully and immediately honor its commitments under the deal. That's a notably direct ask coming from the top of the Treasury, and it signals the White House is watching the scoreboard rather than the handshake photos.

The secretary tied any forward motion in the relationship to tangible follow-through. Progress between the world's two biggest economies hinges on concrete results, he said — a line that puts the burden squarely on Beijing to show delivery, not promises.

Bessent also framed the administration's posture as a domestic one at heart, saying the Trump Administration will keep pursuing policies that benefit American workers, farmers and businesses while strengthening the country's economic and national security.

What happens next depends on whether that call produces action. For now, the US has put its expectations on the record — and left little room for interpretation about what it wants to see.