On 20 September 2026, Reuters reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng were set to meet that Sunday at JPMorgan Chase’s Manhattan headquarters, joined by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, to prepare potential agreements for the Trump–Xi summit in Washington on 24 September. Talks were expected to run most of the day from about 10:30 a.m. local time.
Reuters says key topics include the status of the U.S.–China trade truce that expires on 10 November, flows of Chinese rare-earth magnets and critical minerals, and possible AI guard rails after reported security concerns involving AI models. A senior U.S. official told reporters on Friday that China’s performance restoring critical-mineral flows under the truce “has not been up to par.” Analysts quoted by Reuters expect modest deliverables rather than a breakthrough, with “status quo” as the base case.
Holdover items from the May Beijing meeting include efforts to cut tariffs on non-strategic goods and Chinese pledges on U.S. agricultural purchases and Boeing aircraft. China’s Ministry of Commerce said Saturday that He would also lead a Chinese company delegation to the U.S. for economic consultations. For procurement teams, the operational clocks remain 24 September (summit messaging) and 10 November (truce and related suspensions), not the Sunday working session itself.