US and China review trade truce agreement.

US and Chinese economic officials met in Paris to review the trade truce agreement and prepare for a meeting between the two leaders.

Báo Công thương•16/03/2026

US and China resume economic dialogue.

According to Reuters, in the early hours of March 16th (Vietnam time), top economic officials from the United States and China concluded their first day of two-day talks in Paris, France (March 15th). This activity aims to resolve outstanding issues in the trade truce agreement and pave the way for US President Donald Trump 's visit to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of March.

The discussion will be led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. (Photo: EPA Images)

The discussion will be led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. (Photo: EPA Images)

The discussions, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, are expected to focus on adjusting U.S. tariffs, the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets produced in China to U.S. customers, U.S. export controls on high-tech technologies, and China's purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

The two sides met for more than six hours at the Paris headquarters of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and are expected to resume negotiations on the morning of March 16, according to a spokesperson for the US Treasury Department.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who participated in the negotiations, said today that Washington wants to ensure stability in US-China relations.

“ We want to make sure that we continue to get the rare earth supplies we need for our production, that they continue to buy the things they should be buying from us, and that leaders have the opportunity to meet to ensure the relationship stays on track, ” Jamieson Greer told CNBC before departing for Paris.

The meetings between Jamieson Bessent, Jamieson Greer, He Lifeng, and Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang followed a series of meetings in European cities last year aimed at easing trade tensions, which had threatened to severely disrupt trade between the world's two largest economies.

American and Chinese trade analysts believe that, given the limited preparation time and Washington's focus on the US-Israel conflict with Iran, the likelihood of achieving a major trade breakthrough in Paris or at the Beijing summit is quite low.

According to Scott Kennedy, a China economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the minimum goal for both sides is to maintain dialogue to avoid breakdown and renewed escalation of tensions.

Scott Kennedy suggests that President Donald Trump may want to secure major commitments from China, such as ordering new Boeing aircraft and increasing imports of liquefied natural gas and soybeans from the United States. However, to achieve this, Washington may have to make some concessions regarding export controls.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may meet three more times this year, including at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum hosted by China in November and the G20 summit hosted by the US in December, which could yield more concrete progress.

Concerns about the oil market due to tensions with Iran.

The conflict in Iran is also likely to be discussed in the Paris talks, particularly in light of soaring oil prices and the risk of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz , a shipping route through which China receives approximately 45% of its imported oil.

Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a 30-day sanctions waiver to allow the sale of Russian oil stranded on tankers offshore, in order to increase supply.

Amid escalating conflict in the Middle East , President Donald Trump also called on other nations to help protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, after Washington attacked Iranian military targets on Kharg Island, a major oil export hub, and Iran threatened retaliation.

The state-run Xinhua news agency commented that "significant" progress in US-China economic cooperation could help restore confidence in the increasingly fragile global economy.

Reviewing the trade truce agreement.

The two sides are expected to review the progress in implementing commitments under the October 2025 trade truce agreement, announced by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea. This agreement helped avert a major escalation of tensions, partially reduced US tariffs on Chinese imports, and temporarily suspended Beijing's strict rare earth export controls for one year.

The agreement also temporarily halts the expansion of the U.S. “blacklist” of Chinese companies banned from purchasing high-tech American goods, including semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

China also committed to purchasing 12 million tons of US soybeans in the 2025 crop year and 25 million tons in the 2026 crop year, starting with the fall harvest.

U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, said China has so far fulfilled its commitments under the Busan agreement, citing soybean purchases that have met the initial targets.

However, while some industries have received supplies of rare earths from China, the dominant global producer, US aerospace and semiconductor companies are still facing shortages of critical materials such as yttrium, used in the heat-resistant coatings of jet engines.

According to William Chou, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, the immediate priority for the US in the Paris negotiations may be to encourage China to increase its agricultural purchases and expand its access to rare earth resources.

In other news, in his latest interview with the Financial Times, US President Donald Trump suggested that China should get involved in addressing the potential disruption to the Strait of Hormuz caused by the conflict involving Iran.

Le An

Source: https://congthuong.vn/my-trung-quoc-ra-soat-thoa-thuan-dinh-chien-thuong-mai-447279.html