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US Treasury’s Bessent plans to discuss AI and rare earths with China’s He, source says

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The Straits Times. (2026, September 18). US Treasury’s Bessent plans to discuss AI and rare earths with China’s He, source says. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/us-treasurys-bessent-plans-to-discuss-ai-and-rare-earths-with-chinas-he-source-says

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The Straits Times · collected 2026-09-18 · by The Straits Times

Quick Summary

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York this weekend to discuss artificial intelligence (AI), trade, and rare earth minerals ahead of a summit between Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping on September 24. The meeting is expected to cover both open- and closed-weight AI models, as well as potential tariff truces set to expire November 10, focusing on improving the flow of critical Chinese-produced materials like rare-earth magnets. Bessent has previously called for "AI guardrails" to prevent misuse by malicious actors.
Written by AI on 2026-09-18, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary, met with He Lifeng, Chinese Vice Premier, on September 20, 2026, in New York City ahead of a planned summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping scheduled for September 24 in Washington. The talks focused on trade issues, tariffs, rare earth minerals, and artificial intelligence (AI), setting the stage for discussions at the leaders' meeting. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also participated in the all-day session held at JPMorgan Chase's headquarters. Treasury Secretary Bessent called the engagement "very successful," emphasizing a proposed mechanism to enhance communication on AI security threats between the two nations. The summit aims to ease tensions and address economic and strategic concerns, though analysts predict limited breakthroughs due to ongoing great power competition. Markets responded positively to news of the productive talks, with Asian stocks advancing on Monday.

Written for “US-China Trade Talks Ahead Summit” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 29 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 US-China Trade Talks Ahead Summit
Politics · 30 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 14% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Hindu
Hedges 1 of 9 claims Outlet record 60/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 2 of 16 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Hindu
Hedges 0 of 4 claims Outlet record 60/100
NPR
Hedges 2 of 45 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles describe different meetings involving different officials from the US and China on separate occasions.”
The Straits Times
Hedges 6 of 36 claims Outlet record 66/100
CBS News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles describe different events: one discusses plans between US Treasury Secretary Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He, while the other involves Rep. Ro Khanna's views on an 'international agreement' needed with China.”
CBS News
Hedges 1 of 12 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 2 of 18 claims Outlet record 66/100
Semafor
Hedges 0 of 4 claims Outlet record 60/100
Euronews
Hedges 2 of 12 claims Outlet record 60/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
21
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
14%
3 of 21 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
The Straits Times's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
30
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Straits Times · 4104 article(s) · 5 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 5 correction(s)

Who wrote this

The Straits Times
2640 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by The Straits Times
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
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Topics

Anthropic Bessent China Chinese WASHINGTON

Subjects

China GPE · 6× Chinese NORP · 6× Bessent PERSON · 5× Trump PERSON · 3× Anthropic ORG · 2× Reuters ORG · 2× WASHINGTON GPE · 2× Scott Bessent PERSON · 1× US Treasury ORG · 1× US Treasury’s ORG · 1×

Narrative

Questioned on AI safety at a House of Representatives Financial Services Committee hearing on Sept 15, he said it was up to US AI firms to decide whether to slow down their development, but argued they should be held liable for what they build and generate as a safety measure.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18
🔮 Bessent and He will meet ahead of a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sept 24 in Washington.

Claims (21 extracted, 3 hedged)

US Treasury’s Bessent plans to discuss AI and rare earths with China’s He, source says asserted
source → plan → He
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent plans to discuss AI, trade, rare earths and economic issues when he meets with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York City this weekend, according to a source familiar with his plans. uncertain
he → plan → plans
The discussions are significant because the US and China are the two major forces driving development of advanced AI tools and the global adoption of the technology. asserted
US → drive → technology
Rare earths play a crucial role in the manufacturing of technology. asserted
earths → play → technology
Bessent and He will meet ahead of a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sept 24 in Washington. asserted
Bessent → meet → Washington
The Associated Press first reported the US plans. asserted
Press → report → plans
Bessent said in a statement that he expects the discussions to cover “both open- and closed-weight models.” asserted
discussions → say → models
Users can download and fine-tune them for specific tasks. asserted
Users → download → tasks
Chinese open-weight models are becoming more popular with US companies because they can be cheaper than so-called closed-weight AI tools, such as those developed by Anthropic, OpenAI and other US companies. asserted
they → become → Anthropic
Chinese AI models have even been used by the US government. asserted
models → use → government
Reuters reported on Sept 17 that a US government website employed an AI model from a Chinese company to allow users to search proposed federal regulations even though the FBI accused the model’s developer, Alibaba, of “malicious” copying of Anthropic’s technology. asserted
FBI → report → technology
“The United States remains the leader in AI. asserted
States → remain → AI
And we are open to discussions on avoiding shared risks and avoiding bifurcation of our two systems,” Bessent said in his statement regarding the China talks. asserted
Bessent → avoid → talks
The Treasury secretary has recently called for the US and China to agree on AI “guardrails” aimed at keeping powerful models out of the hands of malign non-state actors. asserted
US → call → actors
Questioned on AI safety at a House of Representatives Financial Services Committee hearing on Sept 15, he said it was up to US AI firms to decide whether to slow down their development, but argued they should be held liable for what they build and generate as a safety measure. asserted
they → question → measure
Details about the meetings in New York, which are expected to explore possible areas for Trump and Xi to agree on, have been scant. asserted
Trump → expect → areas
The source said that the meetings could extend to Sept 21 on a technical or “working” level. uncertain
meetings → say → level
Other key topics for Bessent and He to discuss include potential extension of a tariff truce that expires on Nov 10, and improving flows of Chinese-produced rare-earth magnets and critical minerals that China had severely curtailed in 2025. asserted
China → discuss → 2025
The truce capped tariffs imposed during Trump’s second term in office at about 20 per cent. asserted
truce → cap → cent
The Supreme Court later struck down Trump’s tariffs invoked under a national emergencies law, but his administration has been rebuilding them under new authorities. asserted
administration → strike → authorities
In May, China pledged to increase purchases of US agriculture products and at least 200 Boeing aircraft, but details on those transactions have yet to emerge. uncertain
details → pledge → transactions
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