Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has played a balancing act trying to reassure nervous investors that the U.S. would maintain its global leadership role while staying true to the Trump administration’s skepticism of multilateral banking organizations.

Speaking to reporters in Washington on Wednesday, Bessent said “there would have to be a de-escalation by both sides”, echoing comments he made to a JPMorgan conference on Tuesday, where he warned that the US-China trade war was “not sustainable”.