China-US Talks in Paris

Chinese readout and some of my analysis

The latest round of China-U.S. talks in Paris has concluded. Li Chenggang, China’s international trade negotiator and vice minister of commerce, said:

中美双方团队进行了深入、坦诚、建设性的磋商。通过这次的磋商，双方已经就一些议题取得了初步共识，下一步我们将继续保持磋商进程。

The Chinese and U.S. teams engaged in in-depth, candid, and constructive consultations. Through these consultations, the two sides have already reached preliminary consensus on certain issues. Going forward, we will continue to maintain the consultation process.

When these three words — “in-depth,” “candid,” and “constructive” — appear together, they usually indicate that the negotiations have indeed made progress and that communication between the two sides was relatively substantial, rather than merely diplomatic courtesy. U.S. officials, for their part, described the atmosphere of the talks as “stable,” which also indirectly suggests an improvement in the dialogue environment.

The core issues in this round of talks were still the extension of the China-U.S. trade truce and tariff arrangements. In Li’s remarks, the idea of establishing a working mechanism to promote bilateral trade and investment cooperation is also a relatively positive signal.

From a negotiation strategy perspective, the U.S. tactic of temporarily increasing leverage just before talks appears to have lost its effectiveness. My observation is that in several rounds of China-U.S. negotiations in 2025, the U.S. frequently adopted unilateral measures on the eve of negotiations (My favourite word in Chinese is 虚空印牌“playing cards out of nowhere”) in an attempt to seize the initiative. Before the core tariff issues from each round had even been resolved, Washington kept inserting new issues into the agenda in order to maintain the upper hand.

For example, before the China-U.S. talks in Kuala Lumpur, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) introduced the 50% rule: any non-U.S. company more than 50% owned by an entity on the restricted list would automatically become subject to the corresponding export control restrictions. In addition, the U.S. imposed port fees on Chinese vessels. China responded with reciprocal countermeasures, comprehensively upgrading its rare earth export controls and beginning to impose port fees on the U.S. as well.

By contrast, on the eve of the Paris talks, although the U.S. announced the launch of Section 301 investigations into multiple countries, including China, the timing and background suggest that this move was more of a procedural repair following the Supreme Court’s earlier rejection of the Trump administration’s broad tariff measures, rather than a new round of offensives specifically targeting China. Li Chenggang’s response was also relatively restrained: he emphasised opposition to “such unilateral investigations” and expressed concern that they might “disrupt and damage the hard-won stable China-U.S. economic and trade relationship.”

Overall, these negotiations suggest that after the truce reached last year, both sides have begun to seek more pragmatically the possibility of stabilising relations. The U.S. shows signs of a retreat from its earlier strategy of continually expanding its agenda to avoid further escalation caused by the proliferation of issues. China also shows great strategic patience. This indicates that both sides intend to pull their economic and trade relationship back from a state of confrontation, or at the very least prevent it from deteriorating further.

After Trump announced that he was seeking to postpone his visit, Bessent took the initiative to clarify that this was because Trump needed to remain in Washington to direct operations involving Iran:

It would have nothing to do with the Chinese making a commitment to the Straits of Hormuz. It would obviously be in their interest to do so, but a postponement would not be as a result of any ask from the president not being met

I think this, in a sense, also confirms that the U.S. likewise wants to preserve the broader stability of the China-U.S. trade truce and is trying to avoid strategic disruption caused by misinterpretation of signals. Both sides have already learned how to look for balance amid confrontation. “Seeking communication amid rivalry, and probing each other while applying pressure” may well become the normal pattern of China-U.S. relations in the short term.

Below is the Chinese readout in English:

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China, U.S. hold candid, in-depth, constructive talks on economic, trade issues

PARIS, March 16 -- The Chinese and U.S. delegations held candid, in-depth and constructive exchanges and consultations here from Sunday to Monday on economic and trade issues of mutual concern, including tariff arrangements, promoting bilateral trade and investment, and maintaining existing consultation consensus.

During the talks, which are guided by the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, the two sides reached some new consensus and agreed to continue consultations.

Under the strategic guidance of the important common understandings between the two heads of state, and following five rounds of economic and trade consultations last year, China and the United States have reached a series of outcomes in the economic and trade area, said Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng during the new round of China-U.S. economic and trade talks with U.S. lead person Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

These outcomes have injected greater certainty and stability into bilateral economic and trade relations as well as the global economy, He said.

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs imposed by the U.S. government under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were unlawful, said He, noting that subsequently, the U.S. side levied an additional 10 percent import surcharge on all trading partners under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, and successively introduced a series of negative measures concerning China, including the Section 301 investigations, corporate sanctions and market access restrictions.

China has consistently opposed the unilateral tariffs imposed by the United States, He said, urging Washington to completely remove such tariffs and other restrictive measures.

China will take necessary steps to firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, He added.

China expects the United States to move in the same direction, follow through on the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, expand areas of cooperation and reduce problems, so as to promote the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations, He said.

The U.S. side said that a stable China-U.S. economic and trade relationship is of great importance to both countries and the world, and helps promote global economic growth, supply chain security and financial stability. Both sides should reduce frictions, avoid escalation of the situation, and resolve differences through consultation.

The two sides agreed to study the establishment of a cooperation mechanism to promote bilateral trade and investment, continue to make good use of the China-U.S. economic and trade consultation mechanism, strengthen dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand practical cooperation, and promote the sustained, stable and sound development of bilateral economic and trade relations.