US and China Hold Paris Trade Talks Ahead of Xi-Trump Summit

Trade talks between China and the United States in Paris this weekend are likely to focus on setting the scene for the Beijing summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump later this month, analysts said, downplaying the prospects of any significant breakthroughs.

Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are expected to discuss potential deals on tariffs, investment, and trade in soybeans and rare earths, which would be presented as deliverables for the Xi-Trump summit.

Bessent will be in Paris from March 15 to 16, while He will be in the city from March 14 to 17, according to official announcements.

 The Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, published a commentary on Friday urging a good start for the trade interactions between China and the US this year at the Paris talks.

Written under the “Zhong Sheng” pen name often used to voice Beijing’s position on global affairs, the article said that China’s development and revitalisation can “go hand in hand with America’s quest to ‘make it great again.’”

Analysts said both sides had a short-term interest in maintaining the current trade truce, with Beijing needing a stable international economic environment as it tackles issues at home and Washington focusing on November’s midterm elections.

“China wants to make sure tariffs don’t go up again and Trump wants to achieve some kind of G2 deal with China’s Xi this year before the midterm elections,” said Philippe Le Corre, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Centre for China Analysis in Paris.

In a statement on Thursday, Bessent said discussions with China on trade and economic issues were advancing “thanks to the bonds of mutual respect between President Trump and President Xi”.

“Under the guidance of President Trump, our team will continue to deliver results that put America’s farmers, workers and businesses first,” he said.

Discussion of the Iran warlaunched by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28, leading to speculation that China might call off the summit – was likely to be minimised during the talks, Le Corre said.

But the chaos unleashed by the war, especially in energy markets, added another layer of urgency to US efforts to keep the China front relatively calm, said Sacha Courtial, a China researcher at the Paris-based Institut Jacques Delors.

“The midterm elections are coming, and the Trump administration has an interest in keeping prices low and stable,” Courtial said. “It has an interest in China investing more and exporting a bit more to the US in the months to come.” The Iran war has also increased America’s dependence on Chinese rare earths, which it needs for its weapon systems.

Sources have said Washington has only around two months of rare earths inventory, and the supplies would dominate talks when Trump sat down with Xi.

But Beijing appeared less eager for a deal than Washington, they said.Courtial said that as China was fighting an uphill battle to stabilise its economy, Beijing’s focus would be on increasing exports to the US and attracting US investment.

In the government work report delivered to the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress last week, Premier Li Qiang praised the way five rounds of Sino-US trade talks and the Xi-Trump summit in South Korea last year had stabilised economic relations between the two nations.

Reviving reciprocal investment is believed to be one deliverable that both sides have been exploring ahead of the Beijing summit.

One source said both China and the US were interested in tightly structured joint ventures, licensing arrangements and “intellectual property-light” models designed to withstand political and regulatory scrutiny.

However, Courtial cautioned that the long-term rivalry between the world’s two biggest economies would persist, and the trade truce appeared more like a strategy for both sides to buy time before the next round of clashes.

Washington was working on building supply chains for rare earths and computer chips controlled by itself and its allies, he said, while Beijing needed time to cultivate new markets in places like Southeast Asia.