US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met at JP Morgan Chase's Manhattan headquarters on 20 September 2026, alongside US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, to negotiate potential agreements on artificial intelligence guardrails, tariffs, and critical minerals ahead of a Washington summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Key topics included the US-China trade truce set to expire on 10 November 2026 and China's supply of rare-earth minerals — which a senior US official described as 'not up to par' — as well as AI guardrails aimed at keeping powerful models away from what Bessent called 'malign non-state actors'. The November 2025 Busan truce had capped US tariffs at approximately 20 percent after tit-for-tat escalation had previously brought them to triple-digit levels on both sides.
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