Senior U.S. and Chinese economic officials opened a day of talks in New York on September 20 with an agenda that shows how much the bilateral relationship has changed. Trade remains central, but the bargaining now also runs through artificial intelligence, semiconductor supply chains and the critical minerals needed to build advanced technology.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng began discussions at JPMorgan Chase headquarters in Manhattan, joined on the American side by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Reuters reported that the meeting is intended to prepare potential deliverables for a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled for September 24 in Washington.

The immediate pressure point is a trade truce due to expire on November 10. The United States wants more reliable flows of Chinese rare-earth magnets and other critical minerals. China wants relief from tariffs and technology restrictions. Both governments also have commercial demands: Washington is pressing for additional Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural goods and Boeing aircraft, while Beijing wants a more predictable environment for Chinese investment and technology companies.

AI has become a trade issue

The unusual feature of the New York talks is the formal place given to artificial intelligence. Bessent has said the United States is prepared to discuss shared AI risks with China, including both open-weight and closed-weight models. Reuters reported that possible guardrails include preventing dangerous autonomous uses and reducing the risk that highly capable systems are misused for biological, nuclear or cyber operations.

That does not mean Washington and Beijing have converged on AI policy. They remain competitors in advanced chips, model development, data infrastructure and military applications. U.S. export controls still restrict China’s access to some high-end semiconductors and manufacturing equipment. American officials have also accused Chinese companies of copying U.S. models through techniques such as distillation, accusations Beijing disputes.

The significance is that AI is no longer a separate technology dialogue. It is becoming embedded in the broader economic relationship. The same negotiations that deal with tariffs can now touch the chips used for training models, the rare-earth materials used in hardware and the rules governing deployment of powerful systems.

Why critical minerals matter

Rare-earth elements and related critical minerals sit at the centre of this connection. They are used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, industrial motors, military equipment and parts of the semiconductor supply chain. China dominates important stages of mining, processing and magnet production. The United States and other economies have invested heavily in alternative supply chains, but replacing Chinese capacity takes time.

Under the existing truce, China pledged to restore flows of critical minerals to U.S. and global users. A senior U.S. official told Reuters before the New York meeting that implementation had not met Washington’s expectations. That complaint is likely to remain one of the hardest issues in the talks because export licensing can be used as both an industrial policy tool and a source of negotiating leverage.

For China, the mirror image is U.S. control over advanced semiconductors and chipmaking technology. Washington has tightened restrictions over several years on national-security grounds. Beijing argues that some of those measures are designed to contain China’s development. Each side therefore sees the other as controlling bottlenecks in sectors it regards as strategic.

A truce, not a settlement

The current negotiating structure grew out of a series of meetings over the past 16 months. A November 2025 truce reached in Busan capped U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods after a period in which retaliatory measures had pushed rates to extreme levels. The U.S. Supreme Court later struck down tariffs imposed under one emergency authority, and the Trump administration has been rebuilding parts of the tariff structure using other legal mechanisms.

The result is a relationship that is less escalatory than at its worst point but far from normalized. Both governments continue to use tariffs, investment screening, export controls and industrial subsidies. At the same time, they are trying to prevent economic competition from becoming uncontrolled separation.

That tension explains why the likely outcomes of the New York meeting are expected to be incremental. Reuters cited analysts who do not expect a sweeping breakthrough. More plausible steps include extensions of the trade truce, specific tariff reductions on non-strategic goods, clearer mineral-export licensing and frameworks for continued AI talks.

Business is back in the room

China is also bringing a business delegation to the United States. Reuters reported that executives from companies including BYD, CATL and Xiaomi were among those potentially joining Xi’s visit. Several Chinese firms face U.S. regulatory or national-security scrutiny, which makes the business component politically sensitive on both sides.

The presence of corporate leaders nevertheless signals that the two governments still see commercial ties as part of the stabilizing mechanism. The United States remains a major market for Chinese goods, while China remains central to global manufacturing and an important market for U.S. agriculture, aviation and other industries.

What to watch

The most useful test will be the difference between announced principles and operational changes. A statement supporting stable mineral flows matters less than actual export licenses. A promise to reduce tariffs matters less than published schedules and legal implementation. An AI dialogue becomes significant only if it produces recurring channels, agreed definitions or concrete safeguards.

The Trump-Xi summit will therefore be important, but it should not be treated as a single make-or-break event. The larger story is the construction of a managed rivalry. Washington and Beijing are competing over technologies and supply chains they consider strategic while trying to preserve enough trade and communication to limit the cost of confrontation.

The New York talks show the architecture of that rivalry clearly. Tariffs, AI and critical minerals are no longer separate files. They are different parts of the same contest over who controls the inputs, rules and markets of the next phase of the global economy.