Just days after President Donald Trump announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariff plan, as many as 70 foreign nations have indicated that they are willing to negotiate trade deficits with the Trump administration, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed in an interview. Speaking to former Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow, Bessent said, “I can tell you that there are 50, 60, maybe almost 70 countries now who have approached us.” He added that negotiations with so many countries may take months, saying, “It’s going to be a busy April, May, maybe into June.”

One country, however, will be given priority status in negotiations: Japan. The Japanese government was one of the first to approach the Trump administration and seek negotiations. “Japan is a very important military ally, they’re a very important economic ally, and the U.S. has a lot of history with them, so I would expect that Japan’s going to get priority, just because they came forward very quickly,” Bessent said. In a social media post, the Treasury Secretary confirmed that, at the behest of the president, he has “open[ed] negotiations to implement the President’s vision for the new Golden Age of Global Trade with” Japan and its government. “Japan remains among America’s closest allies, and I look forward to our upcoming productive engagement regarding tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, currency issues, and government subsidies. I appreciate the Japanese government’s outreach and measured approach to this process,” he said.

The president also issued an executive order mandating a review of a possible deal between U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel. The acquisition of U.S. Steel was originally halted by then-president Joe Biden, who deemed the deal a national security threat. However, both U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel have renegotiated the terms of the contract to mitigate national security concerns. Trump’s order stipulates that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is to conduct a review of the deal and report to the president within 45 days “describing whether any measures proposed by the parties are sufficient to mitigate any national security risks identified by CFIUS.” The report will also contain input from the U.S. Departments of the Treasury, State, Homeland Security, Defense, Commerce, Labor, and Energy, as well as input from the attorney general, the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Director of National Intelligence.

While Japan may be given “priority” status, the president has also tasked his negotiating team with brokering “tailor-made trade deals with each and every country that calls up this administration to strike a deal,” according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. She explained, “Listen, each and every one of these trade deals should be tailored and unique based on that country’s markets, based on that country’s exports, the imports here in the United States of America — what makes the most sense for the American worker and for our industry.” Leavitt continued, “The reciprocal tariff rates that were implemented by country were focused on the monetary tariff that those countries have imposed on the U.S., but also the non-monetary tariff barriers,” referring to charges such as the value added tax (VAT) common in European nations.

The press secretary insisted that the president “will talk to any country that picks up the phone to call, and I can tell you, the phones have been ringing off the hook.” She explained, “The world knows that they need the United States of America. They need our markets, they need our consumers. The president has a lot of leverage on his side as he has the best economy and the best country in the world that he leads, and he knows that.” She added, “And it’s about dang time that we finally have a president who uses that economic leverage to benefit American workers, and that’s what the president is trying to do.”

One government that has not come to the negotiating table yet is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). After Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement of higher tariffs, the CCP retaliated, adding 34% to its already-high tariffs. Trump added 50% to the tariffs he just increased, raising the rate to 104%. That new tariff rate against China goes into effect today. There has been no indication that the CCP is planning on removing its retaliatory tariffs. Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday that “countries like China who retaliate and try to double down on their mistreatment of America are making a gigantic mistake. President Trump has a spine of steel. America will not bend, and we will not break under his leadership.”

Bessent also warned that China is making “a big mistake” with its retaliatory tariffs and refusal to negotiate. “I think you are going to see some very large countries with large trade deficits come forward very quickly. If they come to the table with solid proposals, I think we can end up with some good deals,” he said Tuesday. He continued, “I think it was a big mistake, this Chinese escalation, because they’re playing with a pair of twos.” Bessent explained, “Traditionally, if you look at the history of the trade negotiations, we are the deficit country. What do we lose by the Chinese raising tariffs on us? We export one-fifth to them of what they export to us, so that is a losing hand for them.”

White Deputy Chief of Staff and top policy advisor Stephen Miller explained that, unless China is willing to negotiate, it will find itself economically isolated while the U.S. only grows stronger. “Very simply, this is about the President of the United States defending the core national security interests of the United States. China has hollowed out our defense industrial base,” Miller explained. He continued, “America cannot create the essential materials it needs to ensure our security into the future because China has stolen those supply chains. So America — but not just America, our allies around the world — are dependent on China for our own defense, for our own economic well-being.” He clarified, “That is the national security threat the President is responding to.” Miller further explained:

“I believe that China will be forced very soon to come to the table for the simple reason that China’s economy is completely dependent on its exports to the United States and to the West. China has built its entire industrial strategy since its entrance into the World Trade Organization on being able to sell highly-subsidized, currency-manipulated, dumped goods into U.S. markets. It is an industrial strategy from China to product-dump strategically to take out American steel, to take out American aluminum, to take out core American defense industries and defense needs so that we’re reliant on China.”

“If you look at those original reciprocal tariff rates that were announced, who got hit the hardest? China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand. That’s the China sphere of influence,” Miller noted. He continued, “The true trade deficit with China is a trillion dollars a year, because China is shipping all of its goods through other countries like Vietnam, like Cambodia, like Thailand. But also, it’s sending its supply components through the EU as well. They’re making it into our markets through Canada, through Mexico.”

“China is the destabilizing force here for the entire system of global trade. And everyone’s put up with it,” Miller declared. He went on, “The EU’s put up with it, Mexico’s put up with it, Canada’s put up with it, Japan, Korea, everyone. One man, one president has said we are not going to let China extort, dominate, and control our entire system of international trade through cheating.” The presidential confidante added that trade deals the president brokers will be “fair … to the American worker” and “reduce the trade deficit,” but added that “making those strategic trade deals with our trading partners around the world will isolate China further. And it will force China to come to the table and finally redress these decades of grievances.”

The president himself also anticipated that China will soon come around to negotiating. “China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Tuesday. He added, “We are waiting for their call. It will happen!”