UPDATE 3-US Treasury's Bessent to meet Chinese vice premier in France ahead of Trump-Xi summit

The Treasury and USTR provided few details about their objectives for the Paris meetings, the latest in a series of dialogues in European cities in recent months between Bessent, Greer, He and Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang.

U.S. ‌Treasury ​Secretary Scott Bessent will meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in France from March 15 to March 16, the Treasury Department said on Thursday as the two sides prepare for U.S. President Donald Trump to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing at the end of March. "This weekend, I will again meet ‌with Vice Premier He Lifeng to continue the U.S.-China trade and economic dialogue in Paris, France," Bessent said in a post on X. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also will participate in the meetings, his office said. The Treasury and USTR provided few details about their objectives for the Paris meetings, the latest in a series of dialogues in European cities in recent months between Bessent, Greer, He and Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang. The four officials ‌last year negotiated a U.S.-China trade truce after Trump imposed sweeping new tariffs on Chinese imports that prompted tit-for-tat escalation and draconian Chinese export controls on rare earth minerals and magnets that threatened to bring ‌U.S. high-tech industries to a standstill. The truce brought Trump's new emergency tariff rate down to about 20% for Chinese goods and partially restored the rare earths supplies. It was largely extended until November 2026 after the leaders met last year in South Korea, but the U.S. Supreme Court has since ruled Trump's emergency tariffs illegal.

The meeting may provide some clarity on the path forward for tariffs, as the U.S. has reimposed a new 10% tariff on global imports under a law meant to resolve balance of payments ⁠issues. MORE TRADE ​BALANCE

Greer has spoken in recent weeks about the need ⁠to negotiate a more balanced trading relationship with China to further reduce the U.S. trade deficit, which has fallen from a peak of $418 billion in 2018 to $202 billion in 2025, a more than 20-year low. He said the engagement with China was about creating "more balance in ⁠our bilateral trade relationship."

"The Trump Administration will continue to seek fairness and stability in our relationship with China by reviewing the implementation of recent commitments and working to advance the best interests of America's farmers, ranchers, producers, and workers," Greer said ​in a statement. The Trump administration on Wednesday launched a new tariff threat against China and 15 other major trading partners in the form of a new unfair trade practices investigation into ⁠excess industrial capacity, an action that could lead to new tariffs within months. The investigation cited China's continued investment in overseas auto factories despite unprofitable companies and unused capacity at home.

U.S. officials have said they want China to commit to buying more U.S. agriculture and energy products, ⁠as ​well as ordering new Boeing aircraft for the first time in nearly eight years, before Trump launched his first-term trade war on Beijing. Planning for Trump-Xi summit has been delayed and complicated by the war in Iran, so it's unclear whether there can be tangible outcomes beyond the two leaders pledging to continue their trade truce and to work together for future outcomes, analysts say.

Typically, such meetings will aim to tee up potential deliverables ⁠for Trump and Xi to sign off on, to avoid surprises, said Wendy Cutler, a former USTR trade negotiator who is the Asia Society's Washington policy director. "And typically in these kind of summit ⁠meetings, if they're going to produce meaningful outcomes, there's an ⁠intensity of back and forth between the two countries," Cutler said. "We're not seeing that now, so I think that even puts more pressure on this Paris meeting to identify and shape the handful of deliverables."

A spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington said the two sides should work to build mutual trust and "uphold the principles of ‌mutual respect" but did not ‌provide details on specific objectives for the meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)