BEIJING: Top officials from Washington and Beijing held “frank” talks on their countries’ testy trade relationship on Friday, ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit in China this month where their leaders are due to meet. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer held a call with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and discussed economic and trade commitments over the last year, both sides said.
The Americans stressed “the importance of China fully and immediately implementing its commitments” and highlighted “concerns about recent Chinese actions”, according to a statement released by the US Treasury Department.
China’s He, meanwhile, expressed “serious concerns over recent economic and trade restrictive measures imposed by the United States”, according to a state media report shared online by Beijing’s commerce ministry on Saturday.
The report did not specify which measures He was referring to, but added that the talks were “frank, in-depth and constructive”.
Bessent “underscored that continued progress depends on concrete results and that the United States will closely assess China’s implementation of the arrangement”, said the Treasury.
The statement referenced China’s commitments from an October 2025 meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
China is hosting this year’s APEC gathering from November 18 to 19 in Shenzhen, which could also see a trilateral meeting with Trump, Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Beijing’s foreign ministry said this week it was in contact with Washington and Moscow about the possibility.
The Busan agreement, which reflected calming tensions between the superpowers after they had exchanged tariff escalations earlier in 2025, required China to purchase US soybeans this year and through 2028.
China also agreed to suspend new export controls on rare earths and to issue general licences for exports of the materials.
The accord initially covered one year, but the two sides extended the ceasefire through to January 10, 2027, during Xi’s September visit to the White House.
Both sides agreed during Friday’s call to “properly manage differences” and promote a “stable” US-China trade relationship, according to the Chinese commerce ministry’s readout on Saturday.
In a separate statement, the ministry reiterated China’s “firm” opposition to new US sanctions targeting Cuba, which affected two Chinese companies.
The statement from an unnamed spokesperson added that Washington’s recent sanctions “escalation” against China ran counter to the consensus reached by Trump and Xi.
Trade experts have said one of the main sources of friction is over the level of Chinese rare-earth exports, which are crucial for the production of smartphones, automobiles and military equipment.
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