Bessent on talks with China ahead of Trump-Xi meeting: ‘Very successful engagement’

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said recent talks with Chinese officials went well, a few days before President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet later this week.

“We just had a very successful engagement with the Chinese on trade and AI, completing where we left off in Beijing. We created the board of trade and began the subject of AI, and this evening, those were operationalized,” the Treasury secretary said Sunday in New York City.

On Wednesday, Trump is set to greet Xi when the Chinese leader arrives at Joint Base Andrews. The Chinese president’s arrival will begin a state visit to the White House, featuring bilateral meetings and a state dinner.

Xi’s upcoming trip follows Trump’s state visit to Beijing in May. Trump has praised the Chinese president in spite of U.S.-Chinese tensions, calling him a “great leader” and a “strong man.”

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who was with Bessent in New York on Sunday, has proposed a “board of trade” as a forum for U.S. officials and their Chinese counterparts to figure out what goods the two countries can sustainably trade with each other, versus products under the category of sensitive technology that raise security problems.

Warnings about the dangers of unlimited AI are placing additional urgency on Trump and Xi’s upcoming talks . Trump has waved away AI’s existential threats as a “hoax,” an outlook aligned with Beijing’s general view, according to analysts. Heated competition to lead on the technology and mutual distrust have delayed discussions between the U.S. and China on AI safeguards and regulations.