US and Chinese officials begin talks on trade, AI and critical minerals in New York ahead of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping’s White House meeting
US and Chinese officials have begun high-level talks in New York, just days before US President Donald Trump is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng began the talks on Sunday. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is also part of the discussions.
The talks are aimed at preparing the ground for the Trump-Xi meeting later this week, with trade, artificial intelligence and critical minerals among the key issues.
The two sides are also discussing the future of their fragile trade truce, which is due to expire in November.
Trade truce under focus
The trade truce is one of the most important issues on the table.
The agreement helped bring down tariffs after a major escalation in the US-China trade dispute. Both countries now face a decision on whether to extend the arrangement as the November expiry approaches.
Washington and Beijing have also been working to reduce trade barriers on selected goods.
Earlier negotiations included efforts to increase Chinese purchases of US agricultural products. The implementation of those commitments could also come under discussion during the latest talks.
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The supply of rare earth magnets and other critical minerals is another major concern for the US.
These materials are widely used in industries such as automobiles, electronics and advanced manufacturing.
China had agreed to restore the flow of critical minerals under the earlier trade truce. US officials, however, have said that Beijing’s performance has not been sufficient.
The issue has added another layer to the wider economic and technology competition between Washington and Beijing.
AI enters US-China negotiations
Artificial intelligence has become a new area of discussion between the two countries.
US officials have proposed talks on AI safeguards and ways to manage risks associated with increasingly powerful AI systems.
Bessent has said the US is open to discussions on avoiding shared risks and preventing the two countries from developing completely separate AI systems.
The discussions could cover both open-weight and closed-weight AI models. Chinese open-weight models have gained attention among US companies because they can be cheaper than some US-developed systems.
AI has also become part of the broader US-China technology rivalry, with Washington raising concerns about China’s development of advanced AI capabilities.
Trump-Xi summit ahead
The New York talks come four days before Trump is expected to host Xi at the White House.
The meeting will be the next major engagement between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies as both sides try to manage tensions over trade, technology and supply chains.
The immediate focus of the officials’ talks is likely to be on areas where the two countries can keep tensions from rising further.
A major breakthrough is not expected from the negotiations, according to analysts cited in the source material. The more immediate objective is to maintain the existing trade truce and find limited areas of agreement.
