Next US-China trade talks tipped in advance of Trump-Xi summit as fragile truce holds
Treasury Secretary Bessent confirms preparations for high-level dialogue, with analysts expecting a focus on specific transactional wins over a relationship reset
Any coming high-level trade talks between Beijing and Washington will be in preparation for US President Donald Trump’s visit to China in April, analysts say, as both sides wish to keep a fragile trade truce intact, even though significant breakthroughs in the bilateral relationship remain up in the air.
On Monday evening in the US, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent posted on social media that senior Treasury staff had travelled to China last week, “to strengthen channels of communication and advance the dialogue between our nations”.
The delegation discussed preparations for the next high-level China-US trade talks, with Vice-Premier He Lifeng and Bessent leading their respective sides, according to the post.
“We look forward to continued constructive engagement between both sides, and to maintain our positive forward momentum over the coming weeks as we approach our next face-to-face engagement,” Bessent wrote.
Bessent and He have become the principal negotiators between the world’s two largest economies over the past several months, with threats, posturing, trade-crushing tariffs and counterthreats roiling markets and paralysing company planners.