Bessent, He Lifeng open NYC talks ahead of Trump-Xi summit

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng began talks Sunday at JPMorgan Chase's ↘ 0.73% Manhattan headquarters, aiming to lay groundwork for a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled for September 24 in Washington.reuters

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer joined the discussions, which were set to begin around 10:30 a.m. Eastern and run throughout the day. The venue was chosen amid heightened security in New York ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, which begins next week; JPMorgan is not participating in the negotiations but agreed to provide the space.finance.biggo

AI, Trade Truce and Critical Minerals

The agenda spans several fronts: artificial intelligence safety, the US-China trade truce expiring November 10, and flows of Chinese rare-earth magnets and critical minerals that US officials say have fallen short of commitments made under the existing agreement. A senior US official said Friday that China's performance on critical minerals "has not been up to par".businesstimes+1

The AI discussions mark a new chapter in the relationship. Bessent said Friday the talks would cover "both open- and closed-weight models," with the US seeking guardrails to prevent powerful AI systems from reaching malicious non-state actors. "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.reuters

Chinese open-weight models have gained popularity among American companies for their lower cost compared with closed-weight tools from firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI.reuters

Holdovers From May and Modest Expectations

Many items on the table carry over from the Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing in May, including efforts to cut tariffs on non-strategic goods and Chinese pledges to increase purchases of US agricultural products by $17 billion a year and to buy more than 200 Boeing The Boeing Company ↗ 1.12% aircraft. The two countries also agreed in May to launch a "Board of Trade" mechanism for tariff reductions and a parallel forum on investment issues.businesstimes+1

China's Ministry of Commerce said Saturday that He would also lead a delegation of Chinese companies to the US for economic and trade consultations ahead of the summit, mirroring the group of American CEOs that Trump brought to Beijing in May.reuters

Analysts tempered expectations for a breakthrough. Anna Ashton, 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. I think status quo is probably both sides' general best expectation".reuters