US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) shakes hands with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng during bilateral talks in Geneva, Switzerland, in May last year. [Reuters]
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) shakes hands with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng during bilateral talks in Geneva, Switzerland, in May last year. [Reuters]

The top economic officials of the United States and China held talks on bilateral issues ahead of a summit scheduled for Washington in September. The call marked the first official contact in roughly two months since the summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in May. It is seen as an effort to review implementation of agreements reached at that meeting and to set the agenda for the September summit.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday on social media that he had spoken by phone with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also joined the video call.

Bessent said he "emphasized in our discussion that I expect Beijing to fully implement its commitments on rare earths and US agricultural products." He added that the two sides "discussed implementation of the trade and investment committee — a mechanism to secure concrete progress toward a more balanced, fair and constructive US-China economic relationship."

China's Xinhua News Agency reported that the two sides held "candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges" focused on properly implementing the key agreements reached at the Beijing summit. The exchanges also covered stabilizing economic and trade relations, expanding practical cooperation and appropriately resolving each other's concerns in the next phase.

Xinhua also said He expressed "serious concerns" over recent US economic and trade restrictions targeting China.

At the Beijing summit, Trump and Xi agreed to build a "constructive strategic stable relationship," establish a trade and investment committee, discuss mutually equivalent tariff reductions, jointly study rare earth export control issues, and expand Chinese imports of US agricultural products and aircraft.

Since the summit, however, the two countries have continued to trade blows over export controls on critical materials and corporate sanctions. China's expression of "serious concerns" appears directed at recent US measures restricting advanced sectors such as semiconductors and robotics.

Xinhua said both sides agreed to better leverage the China-US economic and trade negotiation mechanism under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state. They also agreed to strengthen communication, build trust, dispel doubts, expand cooperation, promote a stable improvement in bilateral economic and trade relations, and contribute to building a constructive strategic stable relationship between the two countries.

Trump has said Xi would visit the United States on Sept. 24, but China has yet to officially confirm a specific schedule for Xi's visit.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com