"I think both sides are waiting to speak to the other," Bessent said on the sidelines of a forum in Washington, a day after the White House indicated the United States was doing well with respect to a possible trade deal with China.

Bessent said the staggeringly high tariffs both countries have imposed on each other's goods have to come down before negotiations can take place.

"I don't think either side believes that the current tariff levels are sustainable, so I would not be surprised if they went down in a mutual way," he added.

Since the start of the year, Trump has imposed an additional 145 percent tariff on many Chinese products, and Beijing has countered with levies of 125 percent in response to Washington's most recent salvo.

"This is the equivalent of an embargo, and a break between the two countries in trade does not suit anyone's interest," Bessent said.

"I do think that de-escalation by both sides is possible," he added.

On Wednesday, Bessent also dismissed a news report that Trump's administration was considering slashing duties on imports from China.

He said there was no unilateral offer from Trump to lower these duties, adding that he did not have a timeframe on when US-China trade talks would take place.

- 'Unsustainable' -

Separately, Bessent said Wednesday that he did not have a stand on whether the president had the authority to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell if he wanted to.

He suggested that Trump's previous comment that the "termination" of Powell could not come fast enough might also refer to the end of the Fed chief's term.

Earlier Wednesday, Bessent said in a speech that Beijing's export-reliant economic model is "unsustainable" and "not only harming China but the entire world."

He stressed US concerns around trade imbalances that the Trump administration says it hopes to address through sweeping tariffs.

But Bessent maintained in his speech at the Institute of International Finance's forum on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank's spring meetings that "America First does not mean America alone."

He insisted that the administration's moves are broadly a call for "deeper collaboration and mutual respect among trade partners," while taking aim at "intentional policy choices" by other countries that he said have hollowed out US manufacturing and put its security "at risk."