US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that there’s no inherent reason for the U.S. and Chinese economies to decouple, suggesting a deal could still be reached even as the two nations exchange escalating tariff threats. "There's a big deal to be done at some point," Bessent told Bloomberg TV when asked about the possibility of a U.S.-China economic split. "There doesn't have to be" decoupling, he added, "but there could be." Bessent noted that negotiating a deal with China is uniquely challenging, explaining, "China is both our biggest economic competitor and our biggest military rival."