Washington — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Sunday, ahead of the planned summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.
“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 said in a post on X. “These talks help lay the groundwork for President Trump to advance America’s economic interests and deliver results for the American people.”
Bessent and He, who oversees China’s economy, met at JPMorgan Chase’s headquarters in Manhattan on Sunday for the talks, which were expected to set the table for the two presidents’ highly anticipated meeting later this week. U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer also joined the talks. In a statement ahead of the meeting, Greer said the U.S. and China are “deepening their engagement to facilitate mutually beneficial trade between the two largest economies in the world.”
After the meeting, Bessent told reporters he had a “very successful” conversation on trade and AI, and the two countries agreed to meet again for further AI dialogue.
He said they discussed a proposed “notification mechanism” between the U.S. and China on national security-related AI incidents, framing the development as moving from “opaque to more transparency” between the two top AI powers.
On tariffs, Bessent said the U.S. and China are working through the newly operationalized “board of trade” to identify a set of non-sensitive goods, including consumer and low-tech items, energy products, agricultural goods and, potentially, medical devices that could be “traded in a balanced way.”
Bessent and Greer said of the meeting in general, “most importantly, what we’re doing is we’re helping President Trump and President Xi continue their relationship.”
“The Trump administration will continue to 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,” Greer said.
Mr. Trump is set to welcome Xi to the White House on Thursday for a summit and state dinner, which will mark the second time this year that the two leaders have met face to face following their meeting in Beijing in May. Xi last visited the White House in 2015.
Looming large over the meeting will likely be artificial intelligence, after some industry leaders called for imposing safeguards on the industry earlier this month. The leaders are also expected to address an expiring trade agreement between the two countries, along with discussions around critical minerals.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California said on Sunday that an agreement on AI “needs to be the first agenda item on the Trump-Xi Jinping summit” to set “basic standards.”
“That should include international monitoring; it should include checks through the data centers, where you can tell whether a model is being used for inference or training,” Khanna said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “And it should use enforceable and verifiable tools.”
