U.S. Treasury Secretary laid out the need to manage strategic risks while maintaining engagement with China in the BTG Pactual CEO conference in São Paulo, Brazil, on Tuesday.
Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary of U.S., said, “We do not want to decouple from China, but we do need to de-risk.”
He added that the US and China are “going to be rivals” but at the same time, the U.S.-China relations are “in a very comfortable place.”
Bessent also said the U.S. is working to retake sovereignty in key industries like critical minerals, medicine and semiconductors.
China currently dominates the supply chains for critical minerals and medicine.
Taiwan produces nearly all of the world’s most advanced chips.
The island lies just 80 miles off China’s coast and faces ongoing threats of invasion from Beijing.
Bessent also said that over the long term, China will need to rebalance its economy, pointing to its $1 trillion trade surplus with the world.
He is set to meet with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng in the coming weeks to prepare for U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China in April.
