US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng arrived in New York on Sunday for a meeting aimed at negotiating a potential agreement on artificial intelligence, tariffs, and critical minerals. The meeting in Manhattan, attended by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, takes place ahead of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Bessent told reporters that he looked forward to "focused, comprehensive and constructive talks" that would pave the way for the upcoming summit. A key topic of discussion is the US-China trade truce, set to expire on 10 November, as well as Chinese supplies of rare earth magnets and critical minerals, which US officials consider insufficient. The agenda also includes potential safeguards for artificial intelligence following reports of security vulnerabilities in AI models.
According to analysts, the most likely outcome is that Washington and Beijing will agree on minor steps to demonstrate that they are continuing to avoid escalating tensions in trade relations, which could have significant consequences for the global economy. Anna Ashton, a trade analyst with China and founder of the Ashton intelligence agency, said: "I think we will see specific results due to the approaching presidential summit, but I do not believe we are on the verge of a major agreement." She added that the status quo is essentially what both sides expect.
He, Bessent, and Greer will have to work on the remaining issues left open after the meeting between Trump and Xi in May in Beijing. These include the US and China's efforts to eliminate tariffs on non-strategic products, China's promise to increase imports of US agricultural products by 17 billion dollars, and the purchase of more than 200 Boeing aircraft. In May, the United States and China agreed to launch discussions on reducing tariffs on non-strategic goods through a so-called 'Trade Board' mechanism, with a similar forum for resolving specific investment issues.
The talks between Bessent and He on artificial intelligence are significant, as the US and China are the two main powers leading the development of advanced AI tools and the global application of this technology. Bessent said on Friday that he expected the discussions to cover 'open and closed weight models' — AI systems with publicly available key elements that allow users to download and customise specific tasks. Chinese models with open weights are becoming increasingly popular with US companies, as they are cheaper than the closed AI tools developed by American companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI.
"The United States remains a leader in the field of AI. We are open to discussions on avoiding common risks and avoiding the division of our two systems," said Bessent. He called for the US and China to agree on 'safeguard mechanisms' aimed at keeping powerful models away from the reach of malicious non-state actors.
Reuters reported on Friday that it was working on rules that would likely allow US pharmaceutical companies to invest in promising Chinese drugs and negotiate license agreements for them. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on Saturday that He would lead a delegation of Chinese companies in the US, participating in economic and trade consultations ahead of the summit. The business delegation, identical to the group of executives Trump had brought to Beijing in May, announced that Trump had expressed openness to Chinese manufacturers building production facilities within the US. The US auto industry associations called on Trump on Friday to maintain the ban on the sale of Chinese cars in the US on the grounds of national security.
