US and Chinese officials begin trade talks in New York ahead of Trump-Xi summit

The world’s two largest economies sat down across the table from each other in Manhattan on September 20, with US and Chinese trade officials holding preparatory negotiations ahead of a planned summit between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping. The venue: JPMorgan Chase headquarters.

Leading the US delegation were Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng headed his country’s team. The talks covered economic deliverables, AI safety and governance, critical mineral trade, and the looming expiration of the current trade truce.

What’s on the table

The New York meeting was designed to produce concrete outcomes that Trump and Xi can sign off on when they meet in Washington, D.C.

Critical minerals occupied a significant portion of the conversation. China controls processing capacity for many of the rare earth elements essential to everything from EV batteries to fighter jets.

Perhaps the most time-sensitive issue: the US-China trade truce negotiated at the October 2025 Busan meeting expires on November 10, 2026. That gives both sides less than two months to either extend the agreement, replace it with something more permanent, or watch tariffs snap back to combative levels.

Building on the Beijing framework

The May 2026 summit in Beijing produced a framework that both sides have been implementing. At that meeting, the US and China agreed to establish a US-China Board of Trade and a parallel Board of Investment. They also committed to reciprocal tariff reductions on roughly $30 billion worth of goods.

China made additional commitments that carried domestic political weight for the Trump administration. Beijing pledged to increase agricultural purchases by at least $17 billion annually through 2028. There were also specific commitments involving Boeing aircraft.

Agricultural purchase pledges have a checkered history in US-China negotiations. During the first Trump administration, China made similar promises under the Phase One trade deal and fell short of the targets.

Why the timing matters

The decision to hold the talks at JPMorgan’s headquarters carries its own symbolism. Wall Street has been one of the loudest voices urging stability in US-China relations, given the financial sector’s exposure to both economies.

The AI governance component adds a newer dimension that previous rounds of US-China trade talks lacked. Any bilateral framework on AI safety could influence how other nations approach regulation, making this more than a bilateral issue.

The $30 billion in tariff-affected goods from the Beijing deal is meaningful, but it represents a fraction of the roughly $700 billion in annual bilateral trade.

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