Bessent and He Lifeng meet at JPMorgan to set the table for the Trump-Xi summit

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met on Sunday to try to tee up potential agreements on AI, trade and critical minerals⁴. The venue was JPMorgan Chase headquarters in Manhattan^5,7,8. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer attended, according to a statement from his office^11,14,15.

The purpose is preparatory rather than conclusive. The officials met to lay the groundwork for the leaders’ meeting⁵, and to prepare the Sept. 24 Trump-Xi summit¹³. One account reported that final details would be firmed up in New York at the Bessent and Greer meeting⁹. The talks were described as covering trade and other pressure points⁶, including Iran^3,15.

What is on the table

Four threads run through the published agendas. The tariff truce is named as one of the central issues¹². Rare earths are a second: Bessent was reported as set to discuss AI and rare earths with He¹⁴, and one summary frames the potential bargain as movement on export controls in exchange for greater Chinese rare-earth supplies².

Artificial intelligence is the third, and the newest. AI has rapidly emerged as a new fault line between the US and China³, and has become one of the central subjects for the leaders themselves². The pre-summit discussions were expected to cover AI safety, including open-weight and closed-weight models¹⁰.

Export controls are the fourth, and the one with the clearest corporate exposure. Nvidia is directly affected by export controls and China market access in advanced AI chips and computing infrastructure, as is OpenAI in generative AI¹. The current control regime dates to measures imposed in April 2025³.

Why it matters to investors

The summit is being treated as a set-piece rather than a routine meeting. It is described as Xi Jinping’s first US state visit in 11 years², and one account characterised preparations as all hands on deck⁹. Coverage lists seven key issues for Bessent and He to work through before the leaders meet¹².

Two things are worth separating. Sunday’s meeting was scheduled to tee up potential agreements⁴, not to sign them, so the market-relevant output is the summit on Sept. 24¹³ rather than the preparatory session. And the atmosphere is contested: one report records an accusation of fear-mongering in the exchanges between the two capitals³. Tariff moves are flagged as the likeliest concrete deliverable¹³.