Bessent to Meet With Chinese Official Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sept. 15 that he would meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng this weekend to discuss Iran sanctions ahead of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington.

Bessent made the remarks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in response to a question about U.S. efforts to prevent Iran from circumventing sanctions.

He said the U.S. government has sanctioned three banks with financial links to Tehran and that the United Arab Emirates has announced that it would halt financial transactions and trade with Iran. Bessent added that he plans to raise the issue with China, the largest buyer of Iranian oil.

The United States has sought to sever financial lifelines supporting the Iranian regime, including by imposing measures targeting Iran’s trade partners in an effort to economically isolate the country.

“With China, we have had some very good private discussions, and I look forward to those continuing this weekend when I meet my Chinese counterpart,” Bessent told the committee.

Bessent said that he expects the talks on Iran sanctions to continue through Xi’s state visit to the United States on Sept. 24, where Xi will meet with President Donald Trump.

The two leaders last met during Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, during which both agreed that their countries should build a “constructive relationship of strategic stability on the basis of fairness and reciprocity.”

Bessent also addressed safety concerns surrounding artificial intelligence, while emphasizing the need for the United States to take the lead in AI development over China.

“It does matter whether the good guys or the bad guys have this. As a person who manages the relationship with China on AI, it matters a great deal,” he said when asked whether it matters which country develops superintelligence if the technology cannot be controlled.

Bessent said the administration has been “working on safety nonstop” since the release of Mythos, Anthropic’s most advanced AI model, earlier this year.

“I can tell you what we shouldn’t do on safety is to give these labs a liability exemption, which is what they are asking for,” he said. ”The best way to guarantee safety is that the creators are liable for what ​they build and generate, and put out into the economy and to the American people and to the world populace.”

Trump said in July that he plans to discuss artificial intelligence with Xi during the visit. He said the technology “is probably the biggest thing anybody has ever seen.”

“I’ve always said that America’s goal must be to dominate the future and that includes being the number one superpower in artificial intelligence,” the president said. “Whoever wins that race is probably going to win, period.”