China, US economic chiefs raise complaints in ‘candid’ call ahead of Trump-Xi summit
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Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Vice-Premier He Lifeng (right) had “candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges” with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over a video call.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON/BEIJING – The top US and Chinese economic officials held “candid” talks on April 30 ahead of a meeting set for May between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with both sides raising complaints about the other’s trade policies, said the US Treasury and Chinese state media.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on social media platform X that he spoke with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng to discuss Mr Trump’s trip to Beijing, planned for May 14 to May 15.
“Our meeting was both candid and comprehensive, and I stressed that China’s recent provocative extraterritorial regulations have a chilling effect on global supply chains,” Mr Bessent said.
His comment breaks the Trump administration’s near silence on new supply chain rules from Beijing that have alarmed US businesses. Analysts have called these a major escalation that could seriously undercut American efforts to reduce supply chain dependence on China.
China’s rules, rolled out in recent weeks, lay the legal groundwork for punishing foreign companies that seek to shift their sourcing for critical minerals and other goods away from China, as Mr Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and the Trump administration seek to do.
Mr Bessent offered no US response to the new regulations and said he looks forward to “a productive summit between President Trump and President Xi in Beijing”.
‘Restrictive’ trade measures
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Vice-Premier He had “candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges” with Mr Bessent and Mr Greer over a video call.
The Chinese side “expressed serious concern over the recent US restrictive trade measures against China”, but both sides agreed to further enhance consensus, manage differences and strengthen cooperation, according to CCTV.
The trio last met in March for in-person trade talks in Paris to lay the groundwork for the Trump-Xi summit, discussing potential Chinese purchases of US agriculture goods and potential new joint bodies to manage trade and investment issues between the world’s two largest economies.
During those meetings, the Chinese officials also raised complaints about Mr Trump’s new tariff investigations targeting China. But Mr Trump delayed his trip to Beijing because of the US-Israel war on Iran.
China said the video call was aimed at “properly resolving economic and trade issues of mutual concern and expanding pragmatic cooperation”, a sign that the Beijing summit was on track.
In a separate call on April 30, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, was the “biggest point of risk” in US-China ties ahead of the Trump-Xi summit.
The two countries reached an uneasy trade truce in October 2025 when they met in Busan, South Korea, following a months-long tit-for-tat trade war sparked by Mr Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs and China’s restrictions on exports of rare earths and other critical minerals that it dominates.
The US Supreme Court struck down Mr Trump’s global duties in February 2026, prompting the Trump administration to launch new tariff probes to rebuild them.
Industry warnings
As the Trump-Xi summit draws closer, US lawmakers and industry groups are warning the Trump administration against offering China investment access to the US automotive sector, arguing that this would hollow out a core domestic industry and create national security risks through data collection.
In a letter on April 30, 10 steel industry groups urged Mr Bessent, Mr Greer, Mr Rubio and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “to ensure American competitiveness by not surrendering access to the US auto market to the Chinese Communist Party”.
Ahead of the planned May summit, ties between Beijing and Washington have remained largely calm despite energy and geopolitical complications brought by the war on Iran.
The two have also sought to ramp up leverage before the leaders meet, with China rolling out the new supply chain regulations and Washington curbing tool shipments to one of China’s leading chipmakers.
During the April 30 call, both sides expressed willingness to “promote the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-US economic and trade relations”, Chinese state media said. REUTERS
