US, China seek to wrap Paris talks on managed trade, agriculture deals for Xi-Trump summit
Sources told Reuters that the “remarkably stable” talks led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng would set in motion possible “implications” for Trump’s expected visit to China at the end of March to meet Xi.
But they added that leaders would have the final say on the recommendations.
Also Read | US and China discuss agricultural products and manage trade in ‘fairly stable’ Paris talks
But Trump told the Financial Times in an interview published Sunday that he could also postpone his summit with Xi later this month as he presses Beijing to help unblock the crucial Strait of Hormuz blocked by Iran.
“We may be delayed,” he said of the trip.
U.S. and Chinese delegations met for more than six hours Sunday at the Paris headquarters of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a club of mostly wealthy democracies that does not count China as a member. During these discussions, the Chinese side has shown that it is open to potential purchases of additional agricultural products from the United States, including poultry, beef and non-soybean row crops, one of the sources said, adding that China is still committed to purchasing 25 million metric tons of American soybeans for each of the next three years. Trump-Xi October 2025 trade truce.
Spokesmen for the US Treasury and the US Trade Representative’s office refused to disclose the specifics of the talks, while Chinese officials left the talks on Sunday without speaking to reporters.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said in a commentary on Sunday that “meaningful” progress in Sino-US economic cooperation could restore confidence in an increasingly fragile global economy.
The Paris talks follow several meetings last year to ease tensions between Bessent, He, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and China’s chief trade negotiator Li Chenggang.
MANAGED TRADE MECHANISM
The two sides discussed setting up new official mechanisms to help manage trade and investment between the world’s two largest economies, which Trump and Xi could consider in Beijing, the sources said. Technical talks on the proposed US-China “Trade Board” and “Investment Board” were expected to be held on Monday.Also Read | China starts the year with a boom in trade despite a decline in US exports
The Board of Trade is the more advanced of the two proposals and would aim to find products and sectors where the U.S. and China can grow trade in a balanced way without compromising each other’s national security or critical supply chains, one of the sources said.
The Board of Investment will not set broad investment policies but will address “different investment issues” that may arise between countries, the source said.
CRITICAL MINERALS, ENERGY
Sources also said U.S. officials have discussed the flow of critical minerals produced by China to U.S. companies, and the U.S. aerospace industry has expressed concerns about lack of access to yttrium from China, which is used in jet engine turbines, among other applications.
One of the sources said the two sides had “found some ways to loosen up” tougher areas in critical minerals but did not elaborate.
Before the talks, Greer had told CNBC on Friday that the U.S. “wants to make sure that we continue to get the rare earths that we need for our production base, that they continue to buy the things that they need to buy from us, and that leaders have a chance to come together and make sure that the relationship is progressing the way we want it to.”
Sources said Greer and Bessent also emphasized the U.S. desire to increase purchases of Boeing jet aircraft from China and U.S. coal, oil and natural gas during the talks, and that the issue could be discussed in more detail on Monday.
But trade analysts said expectations for such major trade breakthroughs at a Paris or Beijing summit were limited with little time to prepare and Washington’s attention focused on the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
“Given that leaders may meet up to four times this year, these outputs could be disseminated and implemented throughout the year,” said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator who now heads the Asia Community’s Washington policy center.
These meetings include Xi’s potential visit to Washington, the APEC summit hosted by China in November, and the G20 summit hosted by the United States in December.
