U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that he did not know whether President Donald Trump had spoken to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, and that he was unaware of whether trade negotiations were taking place.

Speaking during an interview with ABC News' This Week, Bessent said U.S. and Chinese officials had spoken during International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington last week, and that he had also then interacted with his Chinese counterpart.

"I had interactions with my Chinese counterpart, but it was more on traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings," Bessent said.

"I don't know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi."

When asked as to why Chinese officials are denying that U.S.-China trade talks had taken place, Bessent said the Chinese were "playing to a different audience."

Bessent's comments come after Trump last week asserted that his administration was in trade negotiations with China- a claim that was denied by Beijing.

Relations between the world's biggest economies have soured drastically in April amid an exchange of steep trade tariffs between Washington and Beijing. Trump imposed 145% tariffs on China, against which Beijing retaliated with a 125% levy on U.S. goods.

Trump had in recent weeks showed some openess to a deescalation in trade tensions with China, especially amid growing concerns over the economic impact of a trade war.

Trump also signaled that tariffs against China could come down, although this would require Beijing to come to the negotiating table.

Speaking with NBC, Bessent said that Chinese tariffs were "unsustainable," and that the country would engage in trade talks soon. Still, he did not present a clear timeline on when such a scenario will play out.

Bloomberg had last week quoted Bessent stating that a Chinese trade deal will be a slog, and could take years.

Source: Investing.com