US and China Negotiate AI and Trade Before Summit

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng held an eight-hour meeting on September 20 at JPMorgan Chase headquarters in New York City. The negotiations served as a final ministerial effort to establish deliverables for a summit between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping, scheduled for September 24 and 25 in Washington, D.C.

Bessent characterized the engagement as "very successful," announcing the creation of the "US-China AI dialogue," a notification mechanism for security threats. The officials focused on establishing bilateral guardrails for artificial intelligence models and managing the flow of critical minerals and rare-earth magnets. U.S. officials claimed China's restoration of these mineral flows has not been "up to par," a key point of contention as the Busan trade truce expires on November 10.

Other agenda items included reducing tariffs on non-strategic goods, Chinese pledges to increase purchases of Boeing aircraft and agricultural products, and the potential for a U.S.-China Board of Trade. The discussions also touched on geopolitical tensions regarding Taiwan, Iranian oil, and fentanyl precursor chemicals. While the U.S. considers rules to allow pharmaceutical investments in China, Chinese automakers are seeking to build factories in the U.S. despite opposition from domestic industry groups.