U.S. and Chinese economic envoys press for implementation of trade deal ahead of September summit

[Financial News] The economic chiefs of the United States and China discussed key economic issues ahead of the two countries’ summit in September. It was their first contact in about two months, following talks in May.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on X on the 30th local time that he held a video call with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng earlier in the day. Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, also joined the conversation.
Bessent said he emphasized in the call that "I expect the Chinese government to fully honor its commitments on rare earths and U.S. agricultural products." He added, "We discussed implementation issues in the trade and investment committee," calling it "a mechanism to ensure concrete progress toward a more balanced, fair and constructive U.S.-China economic relationship."
China’s Xinhua News Agency also confirmed the contact between Bessent and He in a report on the 30th. Xinhua said the two sides held "frank, in-depth and constructive exchanges" focused on properly implementing the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in Beijing, and on maintaining stability in China-U.S. economic and trade relations, expanding practical cooperation, and appropriately addressing mutual concerns. Xinhua also reported that He expressed "serious concerns" during the call over recent U.S. economic and trade restrictions on China.
Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a summit in China in May and agreed to build a "constructive strategic stable relationship," establish a trade and investment committee, discuss tariff cuts of equal scale, jointly study the issue of export controls on rare earths, and expand China’s imports of U.S. agricultural products and aircraft.

However, even after that agreement, the two sides continued to exchange economic blows, including export controls on key materials and sanctions on companies. On the 22nd, Bessent said the United States would investigate China’s artificial intelligence models to determine whether they infringed on the intellectual property rights of U.S. companies. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also said in an announcement on the 28th that it would restrict the import and sale of foreign-made robots released after that date. Local media predicted that, as with previous rules on drones and routers, non-Chinese products would be exempt.
Meanwhile, Trump told reporters at The White House in Washington, D.C., on the 6th that "Xi Jinping is expected to visit here around the end of September, around the 24th." The Chinese side has not yet announced a specific schedule. Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said in a statement in May that Xi would make a state visit to the United States this fall at Trump’s invitation.

[email protected] Park Jong-won Reporter