Washington –

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the United States will seek the best deal for itself in tariff negotiations with Japan.

"Our priorities are not the internal workings of the Japanese government," Bessent told U.S. broadcaster CNBC. "Our priorities are giving the best deal for the American people."

Ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline for countries to secure trade deals or face steep tariffs, Bessent also said that the administration of President Donald Trump is more concerned with the quality of trade agreements than their timing.

"We're not going to rush for the sake of doing deals," he said.

Asked whether the deadline could be extended for countries engaged in productive talks with Washington, Bessent said Trump would decide.

"We'll see what the president wants to do. But again, if we somehow boomerang back to the Aug. 1 tariff, I would think that a higher tariff level will put more pressure on those countries to come with better agreements," he said.

The treasury secretary's remark came after Japan held an election for the Upper House on Sunday. He had previously said that the poll was a constraint on reaching an agreement.

Bessent's remark appeared to keep Tokyo in check as it sought a review of U.S. automobile tariffs.

He added that he did not discuss trade when he held talks with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa during his visit to Japan last week for the Osaka Expo.

Akazawa departed for trade talks in Washington on Monday morning, his eighth visit in three months, after the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba suffered a bruising defeat in the Upper House election shaped in part by voter frustration over U.S. tariffs.

Attention is being paid to whether Tokyo, which is calling on the U.S. side to review its automobile tariffs, and Washington, which is urging Japan to open its markets further to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with the Asian nation, can compromise with each other.

"We will continue talks energetically so that the two sides can find common ground and reach an agreement," Akazawa, told reporters after arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport.

He said he does not think that the Upper House election result will negatively affect the negotiations.

Trump has informed Japan that the U.S. government will impose 25% reciprocal tariffs on the country.

Trump has upended the global economy with a trade war that has targeted most U.S. trading partners, but his administration has fallen far short of its plan to clinch deals with dozens of countries. Negotiations with India, the European Union, Japan, and others have proven more trying than expected. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Trump could discuss trade when he meets with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House on Tuesday.

She said the Trump administration remained engaged with countries around the world and could announce more trade deals or send more letters notifying countries of the tariff rate they faced before Aug. 1, but gave no details.

Leavitt's comments came as European Union diplomats said they were exploring a broader set of possible countermeasures against the U.S., given fading prospects for an acceptable trade agreement with Washington.

An increasing number of EU members, including Germany, are now considering using "anti-coercion" measures that would let the bloc target U.S. services or curb access to public tenders in the absence of a deal, diplomats said.

"The negotiations over the level of tariffs are currently very intense," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a press conference. "The Americans are quite clearly not willing to agree to a symmetrical tariff arrangement."

On China, Bessent said there would be "talks in the very near future."

"I think trade is in a good place, and I think, now we can start talking about other things. The Chinese, unfortunately... are very large purchasers of sanctioned Iranian oil, sanctioned Russian oil," he said.

"We could also discuss the elephant in the room, which is this great rebalancing that the Chinese need to do." U.S. officials have long complained about China's overcapacity in various manufacturing sectors, including steel.

Bessent told CNBC he would encourage Europe to follow the United States if it implements secondary tariffs on Russia.

Indian trade negotiators returned to New Delhi after almost a week of talks in Washington, but officials were losing hope of signing an interim trade deal before the Aug. 1 deadline, government sources said.