US, China open high-level talks ahead of Trump-Xi summit

Scott Bessent and He Lifeng meet in New York for US-China talks ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting later this week.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrives to meet China's Vice Premier He Lifeng, ahead of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, at JPMorgan Chase's global corporate headquarters in New York City, the US, September 20, 2026 [Vincent Alban/Reuters]

Top economic officials from China and the United States have begun talks in New York City aimed at clearing the way for possible agreements on trade, artificial intelligence and critical minerals ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng began talks at JPMorgan Chase’s Manhattan headquarters on Sunday morning, with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also taking part.

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The talks come four days before Trump is due to host Xi at the White House, with both sides looking to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

“I’m looking forward to having focused, fulsome and constructive talks today that will set the stage for our leaders’ meeting,” Bessent told reporters as he arrived.

At the top of the agenda is a fragile US-China trade truce due to expire on November 10.

The agreement, reached in Busan, South Korea, last November, capped US tariffs on Chinese goods at about 20 percent after a tit-for-tat trade fight briefly pushed tariffs into the triple digits.

Washington is also pressuring Beijing over its supply of rare-earth magnets and other critical minerals, crucial to industries ranging from cars to advanced semiconductors.

China promised to restore the flow of critical minerals under last year’s truce, but a senior US official said on Friday that Beijing’s performance had “not been up to par”.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also expected to feature prominently, adding a relatively new issue to negotiations long dominated by trade.

Bessent has said the 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 talks are expected to cover both open- and closed-weight AI models. Chinese open-weight models have increasingly attracted US companies, in part because they can be cheaper than closed systems developed by US firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

“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.”

Another potential point of friction is Iran. China remains one of Tehran’s most important economic partners and buys much of its oil, making Beijing an important target of Washington’s efforts to increase economic pressure on Iran as the US-Israel war on Iran enters its seventh month.

Expectations remain low

Despite the packed agenda, analysts are not expecting a sweeping breakthrough.

“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,” Anna Ashton, a China trade analyst and founder of Ashton Intelligence, told Reuters.

“I think status quo is probably both sides’ general best expectation.”

Former US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell similarly said the immediate goal may simply be keeping tensions contained.

“One of the only things we can hope for in the short term is a truce, and that this will likely continue through the remainder of this year,” Campbell said.

Sunday’s negotiations are part of a series of meetings between Bessent, He and Greer over the past 16 months aimed at hammering out areas of agreement before Trump and Xi meet face to face.

斯科特·贝森特和何立峰在纽约会面，为本周晚些时候特朗普与习近平的会晤进行美中对话。

2026年9月20日，美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特抵达位于纽约市的摩根大通全球企业总部，会见中国国务院副总理何立峰，为美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和中国国家主席习近平即将举行的峰会做准备。[Vincent Alban/路透社]

中美两国高级经济官员已在纽约市展开会谈，旨在为美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和中国国家主席习近平本周晚些时候的会晤扫清障碍，就贸易、人工智能和关键矿产等领域可能达成的协议做好准备。

美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特和中国国务院副总理何立峰于周日上午在摩根大通曼哈顿总部举行会谈，美国贸易代表杰米森·格里尔也参加了会谈。

列表 1/4：中国面临石油挑战，油价飙升，供应选择减少

（共4项）台湾在特习近平会谈前展示军事能力（第2项）

列表 3/4：特朗普称将组建“人工智能部队”，并任命新的“人工智能沙皇”

列表 4/4：为什么美国检察官将中国的华为公司定性为犯罪企业？

此次会谈将在特朗普于白宫接待习近平主席的四天前举行，双方都希望缓和世界两大经济体之间的紧张关系。

贝森特抵达时告诉记者：“我期待今天能进行重点突出、内容丰富、富有建设性的会谈，这将为我们领导人的会晤奠定基础。”

首要议题是脆弱的美中贸易休战协议，该协议将于11月10日到期。

去年 11 月在韩国釜山达成的这项协议，将美国对中国商品的关税上限设定在 20% 左右。此前，双方针锋相对的贸易战一度将关税推高至三位数。

华盛顿还在向北京施压，要求其提供稀土磁体和其他关键矿物，这些矿物对从汽车到先进半导体等各个行业都至关重要。

中国承诺根据去年的停火协议恢复关键矿产的供应，但一位美国高级官员周五表示，北京方面的表现“没有达到标准”。

人工智能（AI）预计也将占据重要地位，为长期以贸易为主导的谈判增添一个相对较新的议题。

贝森特表示，两国可以讨论旨在应对共同风险的人工智能“护栏”，包括防止强大的模型落入恶意非国家行为体手中。

预计会谈将涵盖开源和闭包人工智能模型。中国的开源模型越来越吸引美国公司，部分原因是它们比OpenAI和Anthropic等美国公司开发的闭包系统更便宜。

贝森特表示：“美国仍然是人工智能领域的领导者。我们愿意就如何避免共同风险和避免两国系统分裂进行讨论。”

另一个潜在的摩擦点是伊朗。中国仍然是德黑兰最重要的经济伙伴之一，购买了其大量石油，这使得北京成为华盛顿加大对伊朗经济施压的重要目标，而此时美以对伊战争已进入第七个月。

预期仍然很低

尽管议程安排紧凑，但分析人士并不预期会出现重大突破。

“我认为，由于即将召开的是总统峰会，所以会有一些成果展示，但我感觉我们还没有达到某种突破的临界点，”中国贸易分析师、阿什顿情报公司创始人安娜·阿什顿告诉路透社。

“我认为维持现状可能是双方普遍的最佳预期。”

美国前副国务卿库尔特·坎贝尔也表示，眼下的目标可能只是控制住紧张局势。

坎贝尔说：“短期内我们唯一能指望的就是停战，而且这种停战状态可能会持续到今年年底。”

周日的谈判是贝森特、贺建奎和格里尔在过去16个月里举行的一系列会晤的一部分，旨在特朗普和习近平面对面会晤之前敲定双方达成一致的领域。