Beijing expressed hope on Thursday that lengthy trade negotiations with the United States will be resolved soon, issuing a tentatively optimistic outlook ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.
The U.S. and China have been in talks looking to redo trade deals ever since Trump first slapped Beijing with tariffs in February 2025, citing a “national emergency.” A trade war was sparked as Beijing targeted the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs, particularly after Trump issued his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025.
In the months since, tensions have eased as both sides work toward a new trade settlement, with a key agreement being reached in November 2025. Still, outstanding disputes remain, with Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Huang Ling saying Thursday that it hopes to implement reciprocal tariff reductions on $30 billion worth of goods “at an early date.”
The two countries hope to reach an agreement on lowering import taxes soon, Ling said, as Xi is expected to meet with Trump on Sept. 24 in Washington.
Trump previously went to China to talk trade with Xi in May. At the time, China’s commerce ministry said the two sides had agreed to establish an investment board, along with a U.S.-China Board of Trade that would manage trade between the two countries.
The Trump administration has also struck a friendly stance toward China ahead of the critical September meeting. Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance expressed hope that a pressure campaign for world leaders to economically isolate Iran is working on China, telling reporters that “the Chinese have been responsive to some of the requests that we’ve made” to end any support for Iranian-linked infrastructure.
Still, China, which is the world’s second-largest economy, is viewed as one of Washington’s biggest, if not most significant, rivals.
Earlier this year, Trump said that voter data in 18 states was “bought, stolen, or hacked by China,” starting during the 2020 election cycle, raising concerns that U.S. elections are vulnerable to Chinese interference.
Last month, the Justice Department said that several platforms linked to China hacked the Senate and multiple government agencies, including the Federal Reserve and the Departments of Justice, Energy, and Health and Human Services. The cyberattacks have continued since 2018, with Senate systems being breached this year, according to officials.
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The cyberattacks could be a matter of discussion during Trump’s meeting with Xi.
“This is something that we’ve talked about with our counterparts in China for many, many years,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “And we know that it’s happening. And they know we know that it’s happening. And it has to stop.”