U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday did not back President Donald Trump's assertion that tariff talks with China were under way and said he did not know if the U.S. president had talked to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Treasury secretary said that the President Trump and Xi Jinping of China have a good relationship but that he was not aware of a call, which Mr. Trump had alluded to last week.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he had no clue whether President Donald Trump had actually spoken to China to negotiate tariffs—days after Trump said they were happening. “I think that the Chinese will see that this high tariff level is unsustainable for their business model,