WASHINGTON - U.S. officials told Vice Premier He Lifeng of China on Thursday that they expect Beijing to honor its commitments on rare earths and agricultural products, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, as the two sides prepare for a possible September meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Bessent said he and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer spoke with He ahead of the potential meeting at the White House.
"In our discussion, I emphasized that we expect Beijing to fully meet its commitments on rare earths and U.S. agricultural products," Bessent said in a post on X. "We also discussed implementation of the Trade and Investment Boards as a mechanism to secure concrete progress toward a more balanced, fair and constructive U.S.-China economic relationship."
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The talks mark the first direct discussions between He, Bessent and Greer since Trump's Beijing summit with Xi in May that emphasized strategic stability between the two economic superpowers and launched new bilateral trade and investment forums. Trump administration officials touted China's pledge to order 200 Boeing aircraft and purchase an additional $17 billion worth of U.S. non-soybean agricultural products as wins from that meeting. They also have said that China was only partly meeting its obligations to deliver rare earth minerals under a November 2025 trade truce.
'PROBLEMATIC' CHINESE RESTRICTIONS
In the run-up to May's Beijing summit, China enacted new regulations laying the groundwork for punishing U.S. and other foreign companies that shift supply chains out of China. It has since expanded export controls on U.S. rare-earth mining and processing companies and a motor manufacturer, alleging links to the U.S. military and restricting access to dual-use technologies. The move came in response to the U.S. labeling Chinese electric vehicle makers BYD and NIO as aiding China's military, along with e-commerce giant Alibaba and internet search platform Baidu .
A source familiar with the ongoing U.S.-China negotiations said that the United States views China's recent commercial decrees and export restrictions as problematic.
"The U.S. has raised these concerns repeatedly within their trade and economic channel and provided China time to reverse course, but China has continued to escalate and cause chaos," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the talks.
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"China's continued escalations will have consequences," the source added, without further elaboration. Chinese state agency Xinhua earlier reported that the two sides had "frank, in-depth and constructive exchanges" on implementing agreements reached in Beijing.
"China expressed serious concern over the recent U.S. trade restrictions against China," Xinhua said, adding that the two sides agreed to leverage bilateral consultation channels to "strengthen communication, build trust, and expand cooperation to promote a stable and positive China-U.S. economic and trade relationship."
