Top U.S. and Chinese economic officials held "remarkably stable" talks in Paris on Sunday that touched on potential areas of agreement in agriculture, critical minerals and managed trade for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to consider in Beijing, two sources familiar with the talks said.
The sources told Reuters that the "candid and constructive" Paris talks led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng would set in motion possible "deliverables" for Trump's trip to China to meet with Xi at the end of March.
But they added that the leaders would have the final say on the proposals.
The Chinese side showed openness to potential additional purchases of U.S. agricultural goods including poultry, beef and non-soybean row crops, one of the sources said, adding that China was still committed to buy 25 million metric tons of American soybeans for each of the next three years.
Chinese officials left the talks at OECD headquarters in Paris without speaking to reporters. The discussions follow several meetings to ease tensions last year between Bessent, He, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese chief trade negotiator Li Chenggang.
"All these meetings were to create stability, and today was remarkably stable," one of the sources said of the talks.
Spokespersons for the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. Trade Representative's office declined to characterize the discussions on Sunday.
Managed trade mechanism
The two sides discussed the establishment of new formal mechanisms to help manage trade and investment between the world's two largest economies that may be considered by Trump and Xi in Beijing, the sources said.
Technical talks on the proposed U.S.-China "Board of Trade" and "Board of Investment" were expected on Monday.
One of the sources said that the Board of Trade was the more developed of the two proposals, and would be aimed at finding products and sectors where the U.S. and China could grow trade in a balanced way without compromising each other's national security or critical supply chains.
The Board of Investment would not set broad investment policies but would address "discrete investment issues" that may arise between the countries, the source said.
The sources also said U.S. officials discussed the flow of Chinese-produced critical minerals to U.S. companies and raised concerns about the U.S. aerospace industry's lack of access to yttrium from China, which is used in jet engine turbines, among other applications.
One of the sources said the two sides "found some ways to loosen up" more challenging areas in critical minerals, but did not provide specifics.
Greer and Bessent in the talks also emphasized the U.S. desire for China to increase purchases of Boeing jetliners and U.S. coal, oil and natural gas, which could be further discussed on Monday, the sources said.
