US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng met Sunday in Paris to advance preparations for President Donald Trump’s late-March summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The talks, held at the OECD headquarters, focused on US tariff adjustments, Chinese exports of rare earth minerals and magnets, American high-tech export controls, and Beijing’s purchases of US soybeans and liquefied natural gas.
China has met initial commitments under the October 2025 Busan trade truce-including 12 million metric tons of US soybeans-but US aerospace and semiconductor firms report worsening shortages of critical rare earths like yttrium.
The session also addressed Middle East instability: With 45% of China’s oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz-and recent US strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island-both sides weighed energy security implications. The US issued a 30-day waiver allowing sale of stranded Russian oil.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer joined the talks while simultaneously launching two new Section 301 investigations-one targeting alleged overcapacity in China and 15 other nations, and another probing forced labor in 60 countries including China. Beijing condemned the probes as unilateral and destabilizing.
Experts say the Paris meeting aims not for breakthroughs, but to prevent re-escalation-setting the stage for a minimally constructive Trump-Xi summit, followed by potential negotiations at November’s APEC and December’s G20.