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(NewsNation) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed confidence in President Donald Trump’s tariffs and doubled down on his China stance Tuesday at the White House.
Bessent was the latest top Trump official to join press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a series of public briefings to mark the president’s first 100 days in office.
Trump will sign executive order on auto tariffs: Leavitt
Trump is expected to sign an executive order on auto tariffs Tuesday, Leavitt confirmed.
A Commerce Department Official called the upcoming executive order a “defining moment for the 100th day.”
“I will not go into the details of the auto tariff relief, but I can tell you that it will go substantially towards reshoring American auto manufacturing,” Bessent said at the briefing.
The news comes as Trump is scheduled to visit Michigan, known for its automobile manufacturing.
He is expected to meet with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at an Air Force base later today, Leavitt confirmed to NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer.
Bessent relays Trump’s tariff plan
Bessent said the White House’s goal is a combination of imposing long-term tariffs and making deals with essential trade partners, allowing the levy revenue to work as income tax “relief.”
“We have 18 important trading relationships. We will be speaking to all those partners — or at least 17 of them — over the next few weeks,” Bessent said.
He reiterated that President Donald Trump’s massive tariffs on Chinese goods are “unsustainable,” and that the “onus will be on them” to change the levies.
He refused to confirm whether he or Trump had spoken to their Beijing counterparts about tariffs.
Bessent’s appearance follows public comments in which he said tariff talks in Asia are going “very well,” despite a standstill with China.
“We are continuing to make substantive movement on negotiations with many of our trading partners,” Bessent’s post read in part.
Amazon will display tariff costs: Report
E-commerce giant Amazon has denied reports it was planning to display tariff costs on its product listings, as reported by Punchbowl News.
President Trump called Jeff Bezos directly after he was made aware of reports that Amazon would disclose cost of tariffs on its website, an administration official tells NewsNation.
Leavitt responded to the unconfirmed report during Monday morning’s briefing, calling it a “hostile and political act by Amazon.”
She then cited a 2021 Reuters report that Amazon had partnered with a Chinese arm, adding: “This is another reason why Americans should buy American.”
When asked whether Jeff Bezos is a Trump supporter — he attended the president’s inauguration and said he was “optimistic” about another Trump term — Leavitt refused to speak on their relationship.
NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer and Tanya Noury contributed to this report.