United States and China Begin Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump-Xi Meeting

Tokyo — The United States and China have begun high-level trade negotiations spanning two days in Paris on 15 March, serving as preparation for a summit between the two leaders scheduled for approximately two weeks later, according to reports from the Xinhua news agency.

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing from 31 March to 2 April to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The sixth round of negotiations in the French capital involves US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.

The summit will mark Trump’s first visit to China since returning to office in January of the previous year.

The two leaders are likely to discuss trade, Taiwan — an island with its own government but claimed by China — as well as the US and Israeli conflict with Iran.

Bessent and He have led several rounds of high-level trade negotiations since the previous year in European and Asian cities, including Geneva, Stockholm, and Kuala Lumpur.

They have also paved the way for the Trump-Xi meeting in late October in South Korea, when the two presidents agreed to a one-year ceasefire in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.