A senior Trump administration official is being mocked by social media users online after being asked to identify the next nation the US is expected to complete a trade deal with during a televised interview.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on Fox News America’s Newsroom on Friday in order to discuss the new tariffs President Donald Trump is threatening to levy against the European Union and Apple. While speaking to host Bill Hemmer, Bessent failed to name which nation would be the next to secure a trade deal with the US.
“On the tariffs that you mentioned, you had a lot of discussions in Canada. Japan was a part of that. You’ve talked about Japan a lot. If Japan is not the next country to do a deal, who is?” Hemmer asked.
“As I’ve mentioned before, we’re far along with India. Early on, many of the asian countries have come with very good deals. There are 18 important trading partners, and I would say, with the exception of the EU, most are negotiating in very good faith,” Bessent replied.
“Who do you think goes first?” Hemmer further inquired.
“We’re gonna have to see,” Bessent responded.
“Is this a summer battle? Do we take this into the fall? And if we take it into the fall, are we talking about 2026 to do a deal which we can announce publicly?” Hemmer asked.
“These deals are moving quickly and I think, as we approach the end of the 90 day period, we are going to see more and more of them announced,” Bessent said.
FOX: If Japan isn’t the next country to do a trade deal, who is?
BESSENT: We’re far along with India. There are 18 important trading partners. With the exception of the EU, most are negotiating in very good faith
FOX: Who do you think goes first?
BESSENT: We’re gonna have to… pic.twitter.com/k7VTl3RQ6I
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 23, 2025
Frustrated social media users quickly took to online platforms to mock Bessent for his apparent confusion and inability to provide a straight answer.
“@RealPNavarro said 90 deals in 90 days. What happened?” said one user, mentioning trade counselor Peter Navarro.
“This is such vague bullsh-t,” wrote another user.
“Nobody buys this bullshit. We were ‘close’ a month ago to a deal with the EU,” said a third.
Nobody buys this bullshit. We were “close” a month ago to a deal with the EU.
— Elite E Man (@Eman856) May 23, 2025
“Translation: We have no deals!” wrote a fourth.
Translation: We have no deals!
— AZ Tucson Bobcat (@aztucsonbobcat) May 23, 2025
Bessent also shared that he hoped the renewed calls for tariffs against the European Union made by President Trump would expedite negotiations and allow for a deal to be reached sooner.
“I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU, because… I’ve said before, [the] EU has a collective action problem here. It’s 27 countries, but they’re being represented by this one group in Brussels. So some of the feedback that I’ve been getting is that the underlying countries don’t even know what the EU is negotiating on their behalf,” Bessent said.
Originally published on Latin Times
