Representatives from the United States and China met in Paris on Sunday to hold bilateral trade talks, setting the stage for US President Donald Trump's upcoming visit to Beijing.
The discussions come ahead of a high-level summit between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, expected in roughly two weeks.
The delegations were led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
According to China's official Xinhua news agency, talks focused on economic and trade issues of mutual concern.
The White House has announced Trump will visit China from March 31 to April 2, although Beijing has yet to confirm the schedule.
Bessent emphasized the US team's priorities before the Paris meetings. "We will continue to deliver results that put America's farmers, workers and businesses first," he said.
The Treasury Department confirmed that Bessent and He would meet on Sunday and Monday to advance trade discussions.
The upcoming presidential visit marks the first since Trump's initial trip to China in 2017, Yahoo reported.
It follows a meeting between the two leaders in Busan, South Korea, five months ago, where they agreed to a one-year truce in the ongoing trade war.
That temporary pause had helped prevent further escalation of tariffs, which at one point reached triple digits in tit-for-tat measures between the two nations.
US, China economic chiefs meet in Paris to clear path to Trump-Xi summit https://t.co/o3rUDUAqrW https://t.co/o3rUDUAqrW
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 15, 2026
China Slams US Probe on 16 Trading Partners
Despite the truce, tensions remain. The Chinese Commerce Ministry criticized a US investigation into 16 trading partners, including China, calling it "a mistake on top of a mistake, that severely harms the global supply chain's safety and stability."
The US has also launched separate probes into goods made with forced labor, which could impact imports from China.
Other global issues may appear on the agenda, including Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, amid rising oil prices and international concerns over supply routes.
According to AP News, Trump said he hopes China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom will send warships to "keep the Strait of Hormuz open and safe."
Economists note the Paris talks are a critical step before the Xi-Trump summit.
Gary Ng, a senior economist at French bank Natixis, said, "The key issue is whether China and the US can agree on what is agreed and manage disagreement. Iran is a new factor, but Beijing is more concerned about the flip-flopping of US policies."
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described 2026 as "a big year" for US-China relations, noting that the agenda for high-level exchanges is already set.
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