US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng concluded talks in New York on September 20, 2026, as both sides prepared possible agreements for a high-stakes Washington summit this week between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The meetings took place at JPMorgan Chase's global corporate headquarters in New York City and included US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The discussions covered the US-China trade truce, Chinese supplies of rare-earth magnets and other critical minerals, tariffs, and possible guard rails for artificial intelligence.
The trade truce is due to expire on November 10. Under its terms, China promised to restore critical-mineral supplies to users in the US and elsewhere. A senior US official said Friday that China's performance in restoring those flows “has not been up to par”.
Neither Bessent nor Greer reported progress in increasing supplies to US companies after the talks. Whether the issue will produce a substantive agreement at the Trump-Xi summit remains unclear.
Artificial intelligence has become a central part of the preparatory negotiations. The US proposed a new AI safety notification mechanism for Trump and Xi to consider when they meet this week.
Bessent told reporters that the two sides had discussed creating a US-China AI dialogue focused particularly on national-security concerns. He said it could include a notification system covering common goals and common threats in AI-related incidents that reach a national-security level.
The discussions would cover “both open- and closed-weight models”, Bessent said. Chinese open-weight AI models have found users among US companies, partly because of their cost, alongside closed-weight systems from companies including OpenAI and Anthropic.
Bessent has called for US-China AI “guard rails” intended to keep powerful models away from malign non-state actors. He said: “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”.
The proposal places AI governance alongside the long-running disputes over tariffs and China’s critical-mineral commitments. The brief public account of the meetings did not set out the proposed notification system's terms, China’s response to the proposal, or the state of tariff negotiations.
China's Commerce Ministry said He would also lead a delegation of Chinese companies taking part in economic and trade consultations before the summit. The talks leave both governments facing the November 10 truce deadline while seeking agreements that their presidents could consider in Washington.
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