Bessent and China's He Lifeng Hold 'Successful' Pre-Summit Talks in New York on AI, Tariffs and Rare Earths

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at JPMorgan Chase's Manhattan headquarters for day-long talks Bessent called 'successful,' aimed at teeing up agreements ahead of the September 24 Trump-Xi summit in Washington. The agenda covered artificial intelligence, flows of Chinese rare-earth magnets and critical minerals that US officials say remain insufficient, and the status of the US-China trade truce — specifically Washington's suspension of heightened reciprocal tariffs, which is set to expire November 10. Bessent proposed a bilateral notification mechanism for AI safety incidents. The talks came as China's August export surge (+25% YoY to a record $119B trade surplus, per NBS data) gave Beijing a stronger negotiating hand heading into the summit than it had earlier in the year.