The United States is open to extending the current trade truce with China or considering a new trade deal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday, after another round of talks with his Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng.
The Chinese trade representatives proposed a “bigger deal” during a previous round of meetings on Sunday, Bessent told reporters after emerging from talks at the World Bank headquarters in Washington. He didn’t elaborate on the details of the Chinese proposal.
“Given that this could be a historic year where the leaders meet up to four times—this being the second meeting, in Shenzhen and then in Miami—we’re open to the idea of just continuing the Busan arrangement or examining the bigger deal,” Bessent said. “We’re fine with both, and we’re going to do what’s best for the American people.”
The latest sessions came as U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington—their second summit in four months. China’s foreign ministry said Xi departed Beijing on Wednesday afternoon.
In a social media post, Bessent characterized the discussions with He as “substantive.”
“Our discussions continued to focus on securing meaningful commitments that protect American workers, farmers, and businesses while advancing U.S. economic and national security interests,” he said on X after the meeting.
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“We’ve now formalized something called the USA-China AI dialogues. We’ve agreed to meet again probably in two months in Shenzhen,” Bessent told CNBC on Monday.
Bessent said the two sides also agreed to set up “an incident line” to ensure constant communication about AI, especially in the event of safety incidents.
“And then we want to start discussing protocols … so both sides can agree on what the leading AI dangers are, whether it’s uncontrollable agents, whether it’s non-state actors, and cyber non-state actors in bioweapons,” he added.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (L) leaves after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent in New York on Sept. 20, 2026. Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images
In addition to committing to resuming purchases of U.S. agricultural products, Beijing has agreed to curb the flow of fentanyl precursors and roll back a stringent export control on rare earths critical to a wide range of U.S. industries.
U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, who also joined Sunday’s negotiations, told Bloomberg TV on Monday that the two sides would continue discussions about extending the trade deal.
Asked why the deal cannot be extended now, Greer pointed to ensuring China’s compliance with its commitment to issue export licenses for rare earths.
“China has created this uncertainty. They’ve limited rare earth exports. They’ve controlled them. We monitor them,” he said. “And I think just saying, you know, we have full trust and full confidence in each other at this point, I think is a little naive.”
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks next to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer (R) during a media briefing after a meeting with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York City on Sept. 20, 2026. Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images
Greer said that a three- to six-month extension was “probably the right kind of range” the Trump administration had in mind.
He said it was unlikely that the extension would be finalized this week during the leaders’ summit.
“But, again, this isn’t until November that it expires, and I think we have time between now and then to talk about the terms of it.”