A US delegation has held constructive talks with Chinese officials, paving the way for President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing starting March 31.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led the US delegation in Paris, said that the talks “were constructive and they show the stability in the relationship,” and noted, “The purpose of these meetings is to prevent any retaliation.”
The meeting was meant to prepare for Trump’s planned trip to China in about two weeks, though the US President has warned that it could be delayed.
Trump’s visit to China would be the first for a US President since he went in his first term in 2017. It would come five months after he met President Xi Jinping in the South Korean city of Busan.
The Iran war has emerged as a potential stumbling block as the US and China were patching up relations following a tariff war in which import taxes soared to triple digits. The two sides later agreed to a one-year truce.
Trump has suggested he may delay the much-anticipated China visit as he seeks Beijing’s help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and calm oil prices that have soared during the Iran war.
Nonetheless, Bessent said that any postponement wouldn’t be to pressure China on that issue. He told journalists, “If the President’s visit is postponed, it would have nothing to do with the Chinese making a commitment to the Straits of Hormuz.”
“It would obviously be in their interest to do so, but a postponement would not be as a result of any asks from the president not being met.
“The postponement, if it happens, would be because the commander in chief of the United States military believes that he should stay in the United States while this war is being prosecuted.”
Scott Bessent
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, accompanying Bessent, said that the talks sketched out “the general terms of a work plan” for a Trump-Xi meeting so that it could produce “potential deliverables.”
He said that they also covered the trade investigations that concern China. “We started these talks, really, by giving them a preview of what we’re doing on US trade policy as we adjust to the Supreme Court,” Greer said.
“Remember: The President’s trade policy hasn’t changed. Our tools may change, and we’re conducting these investigations. We don’t want to prejudge them, and we had a good conversation with our counterparts about that process.”
Jamieson Greer
China Warns Trump’s Latest Tariff Moves To Harm Trade Relationship
Meanwhile, China warned that US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff moves could harm the countries’ trade relationship, at the end of high-level talks in Paris.
The commerce ministry hit back against the Trump administration’s new trade investigation into 16 trading partners, which included China.
The investigation, which came after a Supreme Court ruling struck down Trump’s sweeping global tariffs that were imposed last year, could pave the way for new tariffs.
The US also launched a separate investigation into the import of goods made with forced labor from countries including China.
China said Monday that it had already made representations over concerns about the new investigation to the US. According to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce, “It’s a mistake on top of a mistake, that severely harms the global supply chain’s safety and stability.”
Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative, disclosed to reporters that the Chinese side had expressed serious concern about trade investigations into manufacturing in foreign countries that the Trump administration launched after the US Supreme Court struck down its earlier tariffs.
“We are concerned that the possible results of such investigations may interfere with or damage the hard-won and stable China-US economic and trade relations.”
Li Chenggang
He said that they discussed the possible extension of tariffs and non-tariff measures on both sides, and that China expressed concern over likely uncertainty as the US adjusts its measures. He said that both sides agreed to make efforts to keep the tariffs stable.
Li did not address Trump’s planned visit, and did not take questions.
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