US Treasury's Bessent, China's He to launch talks on AI, trade, critical minerals

Key topics will be the status of a US-Chinatrade trucethat is set to expire on November 10, flows of Chinese rare-earth magnets and critical minerals that US officials say are insufficient and potential guard rails for artificial intelligence after reports of keysecurity breaches involving AImodels.

The most likely outcome, analysts say, would be for Washington and Beijing to agree on small steps to show they are continuing to avoid escalating tensions in adelicate trade relationshipthat has major consequences for the global economy.

"I think there will be some show of deliverables because of the fact that it's a presidential summit coming, but I don't feel like we're on the verge of some sort of breakthrough," said Anna Ashton, a longtime China trade analyst and founder of Ashton Intelligence. "I think status quo is probably both sides' general best expectation.

"Read:Trump says US has tools to keep AI safe, concerns are part of ‘sick conspiracy’Many of the issues that He, Bessent and Greer will have to work through for Trump and Xi are holdovers from the two leaders'meeting in Beijing in May, including an effort on both sides to cut tariffs on non-strategic goods and Chinese pledges to increase purchases of US agricultural goods by $17 billion a year and to purchase more than 200 Boeing aircraft.

The Bessent-He-Greer meeting follows a pattern set over the past 16 months, in which the three officials met in European and Asian cities to tee up potential agreements for Trump and Xi.

These efforts included the November 2025 truce reached in Busan, South Korea, which capped US tariffs imposed during Trump's second term in office at about 20% on Chinese goods after tit-for-tat escalation had brought them to triple-digit levels on both sides.

The US Supreme Court later struck down the Trump tariffs that were invoked under a national emergencies law, including duties related to fentanyl trafficking. Trump's administration has been rebuilding them under new authorities, including restoring a 12.5% tariff on Chinese goods over forced labor allegations.

It is finalising a separate tariff investigation aimed at curbing excess industrial capacity that it says is rampant in China. Under that truce, China promised to restore the flow of critical minerals to US and global users.

However, a senior US official  China's performance on that front "has not been up to par" and would be a topic for discussion ahead of the Trump-Xi summit. New talks on AIThe Bessent-He discussions on AI are significant because the US and China are thetwo major forces driving developmentof advanced AI tools and the global adoption of the technology.

Rare earths play a crucial role in the manufacturing of advanced semiconductor technology powering AI.Bessent said on Friday he expects the discussions to cover "both open-and closed-weight models". Open-weight models are AI systems with publicly accessible core elements where users can download and fine-tune them for specific tasks.

Read More:Bill Gates, alarmed by AI, has policy ideas he wants to discuss with China's Xi. Chinese open-weight models are becoming more popular with US companies because they can be cheaper than closed-weight AI tools such as those developed by Anthropic, OpenAI and other US companies.

"The United States remains the leader in AI. And we are open to discussions on avoiding shared risks and avoiding bifurcation of our two systems," Bessent said in a statement regarding the China talks. Bessent has called for the US and China to agree onAI "guard rails"aimed at keeping powerful models out of the hands of malign non-state actors.

Tariff reduction, investment. The US and China also agreed in May to launch discussions to reduce tariffs for non-strategic goods under a so-called "Board of Trade" mechanism along with a similar forum to deal with specific investment issues.

While the Trump administration has tightened restrictions on US companies investing in some industries in China, Reutersreported on Friday that it is working on rules that would likely allow US pharmaceutical firms to invest in promising Chinese drugs and strike licensing deals for them. Also Read:US to tell partners they must pick sides in AI race with China.

China's Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday that He would also lead a delegation of Chinese companies to the US that would participate in economic and trade consultations ahead of the summit.

The business delegation, which mirrors a group of US CEOs that Trump brought to Beijing in May, was announced as Trump expressed openness to Chinese automakers building US factories. US auto industry groups on Friday urged Trump to maintain an effective ban on Chinese vehicle sales in the US on national security grounds.