The former hedge fund CEO said individual investors, who have held their positions through the market turmoil, have faith in Trump’s tariff policy.

Scott Bessent told ABC News on Sunday that some of the countries looking to negotiate with Trump should curb their "non-tariff trade barriers."

The administration later walked back its initial proposal, and announced April 9 it would immediately hike tariffs on Chinese goods to 145%, but scale back reciprocal tariffs on other countries for 90 days to a baseline of 10%. In response, China proceeded to boost its tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to say whether the U.S. and China are in direct communication and whether President Trump has been in touch with President Xi.