'US has blinked': CNN reporter delivers blunt assessment after latest White House 'U-turn'
President Donald Trump blinked in his trade war with China, a CNN reporter said in a blunt assessment Wednesday.
The financial markets are showing optimism after Trump indicated a possible "U-turn on messaging" around trade with China, said Jeff Zeleny, the network's chief national affairs correspondent.
However, it prompted questions after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared on Fox News on Wednesday afternoon.
"There will be no unilateral reduction in tariffs against China. The president has made it clear that China needs to make a deal with the United States of America. And we are optimistic that it will happen. And when that continues, it will be up to the president what the tariff rate on China will be," said Leavitt.
Zeleny said that reporters questioned Leavitt on the comments during the news briefing, and she said that it was all about "leverage."
"This has all been about leverage," said Zeleny.
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"But the reality here is that the U.S. has blinked," he continued. "China has not. We will see where this goes forward. But one person at the center of all of this sort of change in conversation — change in focus here at the White House is the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent. He's been sort of the calming presence to the markets."
During a speech to the International Monetary Fund, Bessent promised that "America First" didn't mean that the country was abandoning trade allies. It does not mean "America alone," he promised.
"To the contrary," he continued, "it is a call for deeper collaboration and mutual respect among trade partners. China needs to change. The country knows it needs to change. Everyone knows it needs to change. And we want to help it change because we need rebalancing too."
Zeleny walked through the president's efforts on China, beginning with "tough talk." Now that the trade war has "escalated," he said. Bessent "is saying that China needs to change, but the U.S. does need to change as well."
He called it a "softer tone" than Trump's toughness.
"The other reasons we are learning there is a sort of, a new posture here is because of a private meeting that the president had Monday in the Oval Office," Zeleny continued. "We learned earlier today that the CEOs of Walmart and Target, Home Depot and Lowe's, of course, major American retailers, had a private meeting with the president in the Oval Office on Monday. They were talking about the supply chain disruption, and one warning, I'm told, was as blunt as [saying] store shelves will be empty in the coming weeks if there is not some type of a new deal that is struck."
That resonated with Trump, Zeleny said, and prompted the evolution.
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