WASHINGTON, D.C. — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared before a House committee on May 6—his first testimony to Congress on President Donald Trump’s cabinet—to defend the president’s economic agenda, including a sweeping tariff regime.

Bessent said the U.S. is conducting negotiations with 17 of the nation’s top 18 trading partners. Notably, though, that list did not include China.

“China, we have not engaged in negotiations with as of yet, so I expect that we can see a substantial reduction in the tariffs that we are being charged,” Bessent said.

Bessent’s comments appeared to contradict those of the president, who has said repeatedly that talks with Beijing had already begun.

Trade tensions between the two largest economies in the world have soured in recent weeks, as an escalating trade war drove U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods to 145% and Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%.

Speaking at the White House Tuesday, Trump signaled interested in making a deal to lower some of the tariffs on Chinese imports.

“We're going to make very good deals, and in some cases, we'll adjust,” Trump said.

At the hearing before the House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee, Democrat lawmakers sought to challenge Trump’s repeated claim that tariffs are a tax on foreign countries. Economists have said, usually, U.S. consumers of foreign goods end up paying the added cost of tariffs.

Bessent struggled to respond to Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisc., who asked several times, “Who pays tariffs?”

“It’s a very complicated question,” Bessent said.

Bessent said Trump’s shifting stances on tariff levels, products affected and countries targeted were all part of the president’s negotiation strategy, which Bessent described as “strategic uncertainty.”

Republicans at the hearing stood behind that strategy.

“The president has an agenda. He’s trying to follow through on that agenda,” said Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, who chairs the Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee. “He’s using tariffs as more of a tool—some would say club—to get people in line.”

House Republicans on Monday also stood behind the president’s authority over trade by moving Monday to block a vote for a measure that would allow Congress to roll back some tariffs.

Bessent said trade policy was one prong in the Trump administration’s three-prong economic agenda, along with tax cuts and deregulation.

Yet unlike tariffs, tax cuts and deregulation require congressional approval—and time—to take effect. The impacts likely to be seen sooner are tariffs’ effects on prices, supply chains and the stock market.