China and the U.S. have reached a new consensus in the Paris trade talks, and consultations will continue, MOFCOM Spokesperson He Yongqian announced after the two countries concluded two-day consultations in Paris last week, headed by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The talks included tariff arrangements, promotion of bilateral trade and investment, and maintaining existing consultation. Both sides agreed to explore the establishment of a mechanism to expand economic and trade cooperation. “The wide attention on China-U.S. trade talks and related bilateral updates is well justified, as China-U.S. economic and trade relations are significant not only for the two countries but also for the broader global economy,” Zhou Mi, Senior Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times. However, U.S. President Donald Trump has postponed his visit to Beijing – which was planned from March 31 to April 2 – by four to five weeks due to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
The South China Morning Post notes that the official line for the delay of the visit is straightforward: U.S. President Donald Trump asked for a delay by “a month or so”. According to the White House, moving the meeting allows Trump to remain in the U.S. and manage the escalating war with Iran, including urgent efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But beneath the surface, a more complex story emerges: months of growing frustrations, mismatched expectations, unanswered proposals and a distracted Trump administration, all compounded by geopolitical crosswinds. The result is a latticework of concerns that were straining the lead-up to the summit long before missiles escalated Middle East tensions, leaving Beijing increasingly wary of the meeting and bracing for even lower expectations. Trump did not provide details of the diplomatic exchange behind the rescheduling or exactly when the summit might come together, other than “in five or six weeks”. “We’re working with China. They were fine with it,” Trump told reporters. “I look forward to seeing President Xi. He looks forward to seeing me, I think. But I do look forward to seeing, we have a good relationship with China,” Trump said. It would be his first visit to China since 2017.
Analysts said that while the official rationale was credible, it was incomplete. The headline explanation for postponing the summit was straightforward but “only the surface layer”, according to Denis Simon of the Quincy Institute, a think tank in Washington. “When you look closely at timing, signaling and bargaining context, this decision reflects a much more complex mix of geopolitics, leverage-building and risk management,” he said.
In a tactical truce, the U.S. agreed at the October summit in South Korea to ease certain tariffs while China resumed soybean imports, suspended some rare earth export controls and stepped up fentanyl curbs. Both sides framed it as a year-long cooling-off period. By January, the process had begun to slow. Beijing sent draft proposals to Washington, but received mostly silence in response, leaving Chinese officials puzzled by the lack of engagement, sources said, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
