U.S. trade officials plan to disclose further specifics on the outcome of talks with China on Monday, Jamieson Greer, the U.S. Trade Representative, said on Friday. The announcement follows a White House meeting that hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier in the week but did not, at the time, demonstrate a broad resolution of outstanding sensitive disputes.
Greer characterized the situation as "a managed trade situation," noting that negotiators have made progress. "We’re in a managed trade situation ... we’ve had progress, and we will release on Monday, I think, a lot more details about what we’ve accomplished over the past few weeks in negotiating with the Chinese," he told CNBC. His comment framed the talks as incremental and focused on specific, negotiated outcomes rather than sweeping, comprehensive agreements.
According to Greer, the United States and China have reached understandings to set aside certain categories of goods from the more contentious elements of the trade discussions. He said the U.S. would export agricultural products and medical devices in the course of the arrangement, while noting that imports from China would include "consumer goods and other things that are non-sensitive." He added: "We’ve actually reached agreement with the Chinese on a number of these things in areas where, you know if we have trade disputes in the future or if there are tariff measures in the future, we just leave those things to the side."
Greer drew a line around a small subset of advanced semiconductors. He said current discussions did not encompass "a small amount of high quality US-made chips requiring licenses." He emphasized the strategic value of those components, stating: "These are the crown jewels of American technology. It’s the way we stay ahead in the race for superintelligence, or AI, and so those conversations ... (are) not really happening in these negotiations."
Separately, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng this week. Following those talks, they agreed to extend a deal that had paused an intensifying tariff confrontation - a dispute that had seen mutual tariffs climb past 100% at its peak - through January 10.
The account from Greer provides a framework of narrowly negotiated exemptions and continuing limits to the current dialogue, with advanced technology exports remaining subject to distinct licensing and control conversations outside the present trade negotiations. More granular detail on the agreements and the list of exempted goods is expected when officials release the fuller account on Monday.