Economics Daily

Bessent Gets Questioned on the ‘Kill-Line,’ and It Goes Viral in China

The term has become shorthand for the invisible point beyond which many Americans tumble out of the middle class.

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I’m Jacob Gu , a China news reporter in Houston. Today we’re looking at narratives about the US economy getting attention in Chinese social media. Send us feedback and tips to ecodaily@bloomberg.net . And if you aren’t yet signed up to receive this newsletter, you can do so here .

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was at a loss last week when a reporter with China’s largest state-run media conglomerate pressed him on something called “the kill line” — a phrase that seemed to mean little to anyone else monitoring the press briefing.