Bessent Set to Meet Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in New York

With the May 2025 US-China trade truce approaching its one-year mark, the outcome of this meeting could determine whether tariff relief is extended, narrowed, or allowed to expire, with direct...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to meet Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in New York, according to the Financial Times, as the two governments prepare for a broader Trump-Xi summit. The talks are taking place as the one-year anniversary of the bilateral trade truce negotiated in May 2025 approaches.

The May 2025 truce, reached in Geneva, paused a significant portion of the reciprocal tariffs that the United States and China had imposed on each other's goods. Under the terms announced at that time by the US Treasury, the United States agreed to reduce its additional tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 percent to 30 percent for a 90-day period, a framework that was subsequently extended. China made a corresponding reduction in its retaliatory tariffs on US exports.

The upcoming Bessent-He meeting represents the highest-level direct economic dialogue between the two governments since those Geneva talks. The Financial Times reported that the New York meeting is being held in advance of a planned summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the timing and location of which have not been publicly confirmed.

The one-year expiry of the original truce structure is the central policy question now before both delegations. If no new agreement is reached, the tariff rates in place before the May 2025 truce could be restored, or either side could introduce new measures. What specific terms are under negotiation has not been disclosed by either government as of September 15, 2026.

For US importers and manufacturers, the stakes of the Bessent-He talks are direct. The 30 percent tariff rate that replaced the 145 percent rate in May 2025 still represents a material cost on goods sourced from China. Industries including electronics, apparel, and consumer goods have continued to face elevated input costs even under the reduced tariff regime, according to trade association filings and earnings disclosures from US retailers during the period.

The selection of New York as the venue, rather than Washington or a neutral location, is consistent with recent patterns in US-China diplomatic exchanges, which have often used multilateral gatherings, such as United Nations General Assembly week, as a backdrop for bilateral meetings. The UN General Assembly is scheduled to convene in New York in September 2026, providing a natural diplomatic window.

Treasury Secretary Bessent has previously described the trade relationship with China as requiring both competition and managed engagement. In congressional testimony earlier in 2026, Bessent outlined the administration's position that tariff policy would be used as a negotiating instrument rather than a permanent structural barrier, though he did not commit to specific rate targets. Rep. Waters Questions Treasury Secretary Bessent on Tariff Price Effects covered that exchange in detail.

The US goods trade deficit with China remained elevated through the most recent available data. The US Census Bureau reported that the goods trade deficit with China for the first half of 2026 totaled approximately $150 billion, a figure that reflects both the volume of bilateral trade and the ongoing impact of tariffs on trade composition.

China's He Lifeng is a member of the Politburo and leads economic and financial policy coordination on the Chinese side. He has served as the primary counterpart to US Treasury officials in the tariff negotiations that began in 2025, a role that positions him as the functional equivalent of Bessent in these talks.

What specific concessions or extensions either side is prepared to offer is not known based on publicly available information. The content of any agreement reached would most likely be announced through a joint statement from the two treasuries or through a readout from the White House, as was the case following the May 2025 Geneva talks. Whether the Trump-Xi summit itself will occur before or after the formal truce expiry date is also not publicly confirmed as of this reporting.