Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials launched a new round of talks in Paris on Sunday to iron out kinks in their trade truce and clear a smooth path for U.S. President Donald Trump’s trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of March.
The discussions, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, are expected to focus on shifting U.S. tariffs, the flow of Chinese-produced rare earth minerals and magnets to U.S. buyers, American high-tech export controls and Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural products.
The two sides began talks Sunday morning at the Paris headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a U.S. Treasury official said. China is not a member of the club of 38 mostly wealthy democracies and considers itself a developing country.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will also join the talks, which continue a string of meetings in European cities last year aimed at easing tensions that threatened a near collapse of trade between the world’s two largest economies.
U.S.-China trade analysts said that with little time to prepare and Washington’s attention focused on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, prospects for a major trade breakthrough are limited, in Paris or at the Beijing summit.
