US President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to meet next week to try to resolve trade tensions

लगानी न्यूज

२ चैत्र २०८२, सोमबार १२:२८March 16, 2026

. PARIS (AP) — High-level representatives from the United States and China began economic and trade talks in Paris on Sunday in a bid to defuse long-running trade tensions.

The summit is seen as an important prelude to US President Donald Trump’s expected summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in the next two weeks.TAG_OPEN_div_50

According to China’TAG_OPEN_div_48 s official news agency Xinhua, a delegation led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met in Paris on Sunday morning. The White House has said that Trump will visit China from March 31 to April 2, but Beijing has not yet confirmed this.

Besant said publicly on Thursday that his team would pursue outcome negotiations that put the interests of American farmers, workers and businesses first.TAG_OPEN_div_46 According to the US Treasury Department, he is scheduled to meet with He Lifeng on Sunday and Monday.

China’TAG_OPEN_div_44 s commerce ministry said in a statement on Friday that the two sides were preparing to hold “serious discussions on trade and economic issues of mutual concern”. In recent years, the two countries have repeatedly been at loggerheads over tariffs, supply chains and trade balances.

If Trump’s proposed trip goes through, it would be the first visit by a U.S. president since his first term in office in 2017.TAG_OPEN_div_42 Five months ago, Trump and Xi met in the South Korean city of Busan and agreed to a one-year truce to end the escalating trade war. Prior to this, both countries had been imposing high customs duties on each other.

However, trade tensions are not yet completely resolved. China’s commerce ministry has strongly condemned the Trump administration’s new trade investigation into 16 trading partners, including China. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down sweeping global tariffs last year, there are concerns that the new investigation could open the door to the possibility of reimposing additional tariffs.

In addition, the United States has also launched a separate investigation into the use of forced labor in goods coming from various countries, including China.TAG_OPEN_div_38 China has said it has formally expressed its dissatisfaction with Washington. The commerce ministry warned in a statement that such a move would “seriously undermine the security and stability of global supply chains”.

While trade issues will be directly at the center of the Paris talks, analysts say the escalating conflict in the Middle East is also likely to be a topic of discussion.TAG_OPEN_div_36

The war with Iran has raised concerns about the impact on the global economy as oil prices and supply uncertainty looms.TAG_OPEN_div_34 On Saturday, Trump said China, France, Japan, South Korea and Britain, among others, expected to send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz “open and safe”.

The Paris talks are seen as the most important bilateral meeting before the Trump-TAG_OPEN_div_32 Xi summit. Gary Ng, a senior economist at French bank Natixis and a researcher at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, said the key question now is whether China and the US can stick to what they have agreed upon.

} He said that while war with Iran has emerged as a new factor, Beijing is increasingly worried about frequent changes in US policy. Such a situation could complicate long-term trade cooperation, he said.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said 2026 would be an “important year” for China-US relations.TAG_OPEN_div_28 While he did not give a clear confirmation of a possible State visit, he indicated high-level exchanges were already in the discussion stage.

Besant and He Lifeng have been leading trade talks since last year.TAG_OPEN_div_26 They have already held meetings in Geneva, London, Stockholm, Madrid and Kuala Lumpur. This new phase in Paris is expected to set the stage for the upcoming summit.