Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Fox News that the United States and China agreed to extend their trade truce—known as the “Busan agreement”—to Jan. 10, moving the end date from Nov. 10 to allow more time for economic talks.
Trade truce extended to January
“We have agreed today that we will extend what we call the Busan agreement … that was scheduled to end on Nov. 10 that is going to be extended until Jan. 10 to give us more time to see what we can do on the economic front,” Bessent told Special Report on Fox News. Fox News described the Busan agreement as a trade-war truce set by President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2025.
Iran pressure—and 3 endgames he sees
Bessent outlined three ways he believes the conflict with Iran could end: internal regime infighting, an uprising by the Iranian people, or a negotiated agreement. “One, the regime turns on each other — not impossible,” he said. “Two, we get some kind of uprising for the Iranian people. They’ve probably killed 50,000 of their own population, so very difficult. And then three, to get the Iranians to, if they want to make a deal, to stick to the deal.”
He characterized Tehran as a “cornered animal” and said Treasury is intensifying economic pressure by targeting Iranian assets and networks and pressing other governments and companies to cut ties. “We have an effort never seen before in terms of constricting and cutting off the financial oxygen to them,” he said, adding, “I don’t know whether it’s gonna be a week, a month or two months, but they’re going to yell uncle.”
Bessent warned foreign financiers and suppliers linked to Iran: “We know who you are … and we are going to prosecute and execute your companies and your bank accounts every day and every week.”
Fox News reported that Treasury launched “Operation Economic Outcast” in August as part of this campaign.
Talks with Beijing and an AI incident alert proposal
Bessent said he held multi-day talks with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and proposed a US–China “notification mechanism” to alert each other to AI-related safety incidents with national security implications. “They’re very eager to engage with us on AI because… the U.S. is substantially in the lead, China’s behind us,” he said, adding that both sides are working to define the most perilous risks, including “uncontrolled AI agents” and use by non-state actors for cyber operations or biologics.
According to Fox News, Trump—who wants the U.S. to beat China in the global AI race—has dismissed concerns surrounding AI as a “hoax.”
Air travel restrictions claim
Bessent also claimed that U.S. restrictions have severely limited Iranian air travel: “External flights from Iran, probably more than 80 or 90% of them, got shut down. I’m not sure how the Iranian representatives at the UN are gonna get home,” he told Fox News.
