Just weeks before a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Washington’s top trade negotiator signalled a cautious, tightly managed approach to China ties, ruling out a pre-summit visit to Beijing, favouring continued virtual engagement, and indicating no new push to expand bilateral investment.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer indicated on Tuesday that preparatory talks with Chinese counterparts would take place virtually, ruling out an in-person trip to Beijing before the summit even as working-level discussions continue.
“There’s a Zoom call coming up,” he told the South China Morning Post on the sidelines of a Hudson Institute event in Washington, adding that a pre-summit visit to the Chinese capital was unnecessary because “working-level groups were meeting regularly.”
Greer, who confirmed to the SCMP that he will be travelling to Beijing with Trump on May 14-15, met with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao last month on the margins of the 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in Yaounde, Cameroon, as summit preparations continue.
The meeting followed a fresh round of talks with the Chinese delegation, led by Vice-Premier He Lifeng, along with US Treasury chief Bessent. Last week, Greer said negotiators in Paris had reached “general agreement on the types of outcomes” for the May summit, and outlined plans for a “Board of Trade” to pursue “managed trade” – a system based on buying equal value of goods from each other.
Earlier on Tuesday, speaking at the event, Greer described the economic relationship as “stable,” but made clear that stability, in practice, means maintaining existing pressure points: continuing to impose substantial tariffs on Chinese goods, ensuring ongoing access to rare earths from China, and holding off on any broader expansion of investment ties.
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