Gurría said the United States “doesn’t want a major confrontation,” adding that the two countries have a stable relationship.
Published April 7, 2026
The economic and trade relationship between the United States and China is stable and President Donald Trump will aim to maintain that relationship in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next month, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said.
“What we’re looking for is not a major confrontation or anything like that” with China, Greer said Tuesday at an event hosted by the Hudson Institute think tank.
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Greer said the world’s two largest economies have settled into a stable situation where the United States can access China’s rare earth minerals and maintain significant tariffs on Chinese goods.
“Given what’s expected from the presidential talks…we want to maintain that stability. We want to make sure we can continue to get rare earths from China.”
Greer, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met in Paris in March to discuss issues surrounding rare earths, including minerals that transit through third countries before reaching the United States.
US access to rare earths
Although the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing was postponed from March to mid-May due to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, Greer said ministerial and staff-level talks on rare earths are continuing.
Regarding the rare earth issue, Mr. Greer said, “I hope it doesn’t come up at the summit.” “Hopefully we can resolve it at the cabinet and staff level, and hopefully we’re in a position to do that. But of course the president will continue to advocate for U.S. access to rare earths, as he has in the past.”
Gurrer said the United States is working on multilateral agreements to increase alternative supplies of critical minerals, but this requires a price floor mechanism to protect production from the possibility of future predatory price cuts by China.
Greer said the United States and China are working to establish a trade commission mechanism that President Trump and Xi Jinping will consider to determine what the two countries can trade on a sustained basis without crossing any national security red lines.
Gurría also said there are talks between the two countries about the possibility of establishing an investment committee, but that it would not be about broad policy, but instead would discuss specific investment-related issues, such as obstacles to specific business investments in the United States or China.
President Trump has said he is open to the idea of Chinese electric car maker BYD setting up a factory in the United States, but U.S. lawmakers are increasingly concerned that allowing such investments by state-backed Chinese automakers poses an existential threat to the market-driven economy of the U.S. auto industry.
“I would say it’s essentially different from a trade commission, where you’re going to be very specific about the exchange of goods,” Greer said of the investment mechanism. “In terms of investment, I don’t think we’re at a stage in our relationship with China where we’re talking about an investment program anyway. We really need to get our trade deficit under control.”
