U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng arrived in New York on Sunday for talks aimed at laying the groundwork for potential agreements on artificial intelligence, tariffs and critical minerals ahead of a high-stakes summit this week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The discussions, held at JP Morgan Chase’s Manhattan headquarters and also involving U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, began around 10:30 a.m. and were expected to last all day. Bessent told reporters beforehand that he anticipated “focused, fulsome and constructive talks” that would help pave the way for the coming Trump-Xi meeting in Washington.
Among the central issues on the table is a U.S.-China trade truce set to expire on Nov. 10, along with concerns over the flow of Chinese rare-earth magnets and critical minerals, which U.S. officials say has been insufficient. Talks are also expected to touch on possible safeguards for artificial intelligence following reports of security breaches involving AI models.
Analysts See Modest Progress, Not a Breakthrough
Anna Ashton, a China trade analyst and founder of Ashton Intelligence, said the most likely outcome is a show of limited progress rather than a major shift in the relationship. “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,” she said, adding that maintaining the status quo is probably the best-case expectation for both sides.
Many of the unresolved issues stem from a May meeting between Trump and Xi in Beijing, where both sides discussed cutting tariffs on non-strategic goods. China had also pledged at that time to increase purchases of U.S. agricultural goods by US$17-billion annually and to buy more than 200 Boeing aircraft.
The New York meeting follows a pattern established over the past 16 months, in which Bessent, He and Greer have met in various cities to prepare potential agreements for the two presidents. That process included a truce reached in Busan, South Korea, in November 2025 that capped U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods at about 20 per cent after a period of escalating tit-for-tat duties that had reached triple-digit levels on both sides.
Those tariffs were later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against duties imposed under a national emergencies law, including those tied to fentanyl trafficking. The Trump administration has since been rebuilding tariff measures under different legal authorities, including the restoration of a 12.5 per cent tariff on Chinese goods linked to forced-labour allegations. A separate tariff investigation targeting what the administration describes as excess industrial capacity in China is also being finalized.
Critical Minerals and AI Safeguards in Focus
Under the Busan truce, China had agreed to restore the flow of critical minerals to U.S. and global buyers. However, a senior U.S. official told reporters on Friday that China’s performance on that commitment “has not been up to par,” making it a key discussion point ahead of the summit.
Discussions on AI carry particular weight given that the U.S. and China are the two dominant players driving the development and global adoption of advanced AI systems, with rare earths playing an essential role in manufacturing the semiconductor technology that powers such tools.
Bessent said Friday he expects talks to address both open-weight and closed-weight AI models. Open-weight systems, which have publicly accessible core elements that users can download and adapt, have grown more popular among U.S. companies partly because Chinese versions can be less costly than closed-weight tools developed by firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI.
“The United States remains the leader in AI. And we are open to discussions on avoiding shared risks and avoiding bifurcation of our two systems,” Bessent said in a statement on the talks. He has previously called for the U.S. and China to establish AI “guard rails” to prevent powerful models from falling into the hands of malicious non-state actors.
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna, the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, said Trump and Xi need to reach an agreement covering AI safety. Speaking on CBS on Sunday, Khanna said the priority should be an international agreement banning recursive self-improving AI, along with safeguards preventing the technology’s misuse for biological or nuclear weapons.
Wider Trade and Investment Issues
In May, the U.S. and China also agreed to launch talks on reducing tariffs for non-strategic goods through a mechanism referred to as a “Board of Trade,” alongside a related forum addressing specific investment issues.
While the Trump administration has tightened restrictions on U.S. investment in certain Chinese industries, it is reportedly working on rules that would allow U.S. pharmaceutical companies to invest in promising Chinese drug development and pursue licensing deals, according to a Reuters report from Friday.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said Saturday that He would lead a delegation of Chinese companies to the U.S. to take part in economic and trade consultations ahead of the summit — a move that mirrors the group of U.S. CEOs Trump brought to Beijing in May. The announcement came as Trump signaled openness to Chinese automakers building factories in the United States, even as U.S. auto industry groups urged the administration on Friday to maintain an effective ban on Chinese vehicle sales domestically on national security grounds.
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