Bessent and He hold talks before Trump-Xi summit

Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials opened high-level talks in New York on Sunday, seeking to prepare possible ground for agreements on trade, artificial intelligence and critical minerals before President Donald Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House later this week.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at JPMorgan Chase’s headquarters in Manhattan. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also was expected to take part in the discussions, which come four days before the leaders’ summit.

“In New York City, Vice Premier He Lifeng and I are continuing our discussions on the U.S.-China economic and trade relationship ahead of @POTUS’ historic summit with President Xi in Washington,” Bessent wrote on X. “These talks help lay the groundwork for President Trump to advance America’s economic interests and deliver results for the American people.”

Arriving for the meeting, Bessent told reporters he looked forward to “focused, fulsome and constructive” talks that would “set the stage for our leaders’ meeting.”

Greer said in a statement that Washington and Beijing are “deepening their engagement to facilitate mutually beneficial trade between the two largest economies in the world.” He said the Trump administration would pursue balanced trade with China by “monitoring the implementation of recent commitments, optimizing trade in non-sensitive goods, and improving market access for American farmers, manufacturers, and workers.”

Trump is scheduled to welcome Xi to the White House on Thursday for a summit and state dinner. It will be the second face-to-face meeting between the two leaders this year, after they met in Beijing in May, CBS News reported. Xi last visited the White House in 2015.

A fragile trade truce is near the top of the agenda. Al Jazeera reported that the agreement, reached in Busan, South Korea, last November, is due to expire on Nov. 10 and capped U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods at about 20 percent after a tit-for-tat trade fight briefly pushed tariffs into the triple digits.

Critical minerals are another major issue. Washington has pressed Beijing over supplies of rare-earth magnets and other materials used in industries from cars to advanced semiconductors. China promised under last year’s truce to restore the flow of critical minerals, but Al Jazeera reported that a senior U.S. official said Friday that Beijing’s performance had “not been up to par.”

Artificial intelligence is also expected to feature prominently. Bessent has said the two countries could discuss AI “guardrails” aimed at addressing shared risks, including preventing powerful models from falling into the hands of malign non-state actors. “The United States remains the leader in AI,” Bessent said. “And we are open to discussions on avoiding shared risks and avoiding bifurcation of our two systems.”

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that an AI agreement “needs to be the first agenda item on the Trump-Xi Jinping summit” to set “basic standards.” He said such an agreement should include “international monitoring,” checks through data centers to determine whether a model is being used for inference or training, and “enforceable and verifiable tools.”

Expectations for a sweeping breakthrough remain limited. Anna Ashton, a China trade analyst and founder of Ashton Intelligence, told Reuters, “I think there will be some show of deliverables because of the fact that it’s a presidential summit coming, but I don’t feel like we’re on the verge of some sort of breakthrough.” Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the immediate goal may be a truce that keeps tensions contained through the rest of the year.