US Treasury Secretary Bessent after meeting with Chin'a He, says we're fine with either continuing Busan arrangement or examining bigger deal

The read here is accommodative rather than escalatory: presenting both continuation of the existing arrangement and a larger deal as acceptable outcomes lowers the near-term probability of a breakdown scenario, which has historically been the tail risk that re-priced tariff-sensitive equity sectors, the CNY complex, and copper rather than the base case. What matters in these episodes is sequencing: verbal warmth at principal level has typically preceded working-level drafting, with the first hard tell being whether any joint statement, working group, or timeline emerges rather than the adjectives used on the day. The reference to the existing arrangement anchors expectations, since preserving a truce framework is a materially different outcome from a new comprehensive deal, and the former has usually been the path of least resistance in past US-China negotiating cycles. Worth watching is the Chinese readout, which in prior rounds has either confirmed or quietly diluted the US framing, and any movement in tariff review dates or exemption lists as the first concrete follow-on. As with most comments of this type, the signal is directional and soft until matched by paper.