US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer spoke with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng on Friday. The call served to finalize preparations for a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Shenzhen later this month.
According to a statement from the Treasury Department, Secretary Bessent emphasized the importance of China fully and immediately implementing its commitments made in Busan and raised concerns about recent Chinese actions. Bessent underscored that continued progress depends on concrete results and stated that the United States will closely assess China’s implementation of the arrangement. The Treasury Department did not provide details regarding the specific "recent Chinese actions" Bessent mentioned.
The two officials last met shortly before Xi’s state visit to Washington in September. During that meeting, they agreed to extend a trade agreement reached in Busan, South Korea, by two months, until January 10, 2027. This one-year agreement was originally set to expire on November 10, 2026.
The Busan agreement, signed in October 2025, was intended to ease tensions that rose after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Under the terms of that deal, Washington agreed to suspend additional trade restrictions and reduce tariffs on certain Chinese imports. In exchange, Beijing paused some rare earth export controls, committed to purchasing US soybeans, and pledged to curb exports of chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl.
The Friday call occurred one day after the Chinese Commerce Ministry stated it remains open to purchasing more US agricultural products. However, the Ministry noted it seeks the implementation of reciprocal tariff cuts covering US$30 billion worth of products on each side. Ministry spokeswoman Huang Ling said on Thursday that China has always maintained an open attitude towards expanding agricultural imports from the United States, provided that the agreed-upon reciprocal tariff reduction arrangement – covering $30 billion on each side – is implemented.
President Trump is scheduled to meet Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen this month, marking their third face-to-face talks this year.
