Beijing (AFP) - Officials from Washington and Beijing held "candid" talks on Friday about US-China trade relations, less than two weeks before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that may witness a meeting between the presidents of the two countries.

Published on: 07/11/2026 - 09:57

US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer discussed, in a call with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, the economic and trade commitments made over the past year, according to what the two sides announced.

A Treasury Department statement said that during the meeting, the American side stressed “the importance of China fully and promptly fulfilling its obligations,” and expressed “its concern about recent Chinese measures,” without providing details about these measures.

For his part, He expressed "serious concerns about the restrictive economic and trade measures recently imposed by the United States," according to a Chinese official media report published online by the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing on Saturday.

The report did not specify what measures it referred to, but it noted that the talks were “frank, in-depth and constructive.”

The Treasury Department said that Besant "stressed that continued progress depends on achieving tangible results, and that the United States will closely monitor China's commitment to implementing the understanding."

This comes about two weeks before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in China, which the US President is scheduled to attend, during which he may meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

Xi and Trump agreed to a trade truce last year during a meeting in South Korea, after a heated confrontation in which both sides took retaliatory customs measures, during which tariffs at one point rose to more than 100 percent.

As part of the agreement, Beijing agreed to purchase larger quantities of soybeans and other American agricultural products, and to suspend restrictions on rare earth metals for a year.

The de-escalation agreement was originally scheduled to expire in November, but the two sides agreed to extend it until January 10, during Xi's September visit to the United States.

In the call on Friday, the two sides agreed to "appropriately manage differences" and promote "stability" in trade relations between the United States and China, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Saturday.

In a separate statement, China expressed its "strong opposition" to new sanctions imposed by the United States on Cuba, accusing Washington of seeking to "undermine" Beijing's cooperation with Havana.

The statement attributed to an unnamed spokesman added that the recent US sanctions constitute an “escalation” against China and contradict the agreement reached by the Chinese and American presidents.

Experts explained that one of the thorny issues is China's exports of rare earth metals, which are essential components in the automobile sector, smartphone production, and defense industries.

© 2026 AFP

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