U.S.-China cooperation on trade and Iran policy is at risk after China stood alone against a G20 statement warning that sustained flows of low‑cost exports are unsustainable, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. The split leaves Washington with a near-unanimous bloc of 19 members pressing for steps to correct global imbalances, while Beijing registered formal objections.
The Treasury released the communiqué with a footnote noting China’s objections to a passage urging countries to eliminate non-market policies and practices that worsen imbalances, and to language calling on surplus economies to stop relying on exports at the expense of domestic demand. Treasury officials said China also objected to text expressing concern over shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, praise for the International Monetary Fund’s monitoring of imbalances, and a line singling out cases where a meaningful share of external debt is owed to G20 members.
Bessent said he had hoped for unanimity. "I'd hoped to be able to announce a unanimous joint communiqué today," he said, while arguing the agreement among the other 19 members underscores the scale of the problem. He pressed China to play a constructive role, noting "With China on Iran, we have more in common than we have differences," and adding that Beijing agrees Iran must not acquire a nuclear weapon, and that free maritime trade in the Strait of Hormuz is essential. "China gets 50% of its energy from the Gulf," he said.
The remarks come as Bessent leads the Trump administration’s Operation Economic Outcast, a plan to squeeze Iran’s economy by threatening its business partners with secondary sanctions. That campaign has raised questions about whether the United States would target China, identified in the statement as Iran’s top trading partner and its largest oil buyer by far. The U.S. is also engaged in long-term trade talks with Beijing, and Chinese President Xi Jinping is slated to visit the United States in late September.
Bessent signalled follow-through, saying the 19 other members will take action in the coming "days, weeks or months" to resolve the imbalance, and concluded, "We will see how they follow through." The split leaves policymakers with a choice between pressing for coordinated measures now, or confronting the diplomatic friction that could complicate both trade talks and sanctions enforcement ahead of high-level meetings later this year.
