Republican senator Steve Daines, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Sunday, as China hopes to reach a deal to avert further tariff pressure from Washington.
The meeting marks the first time a US politician has visited China since Trump took office in January. Earlier this month, China’s ministry of foreign affairs promised that China will “fight to the end” with the US in a “tariff war, trade war or any other war”.
Daines, a Montana Republican, met Li with a group of seven American executives on Sunday, following an annual business summit in the Chinese capital attended by top foreign CEOs.
Daines was accompanied by Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Cargill CEO Brian Sikes, Boeing Global Senior Vice President Brendan Nelson, and other executives at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, according to a foreign media pool report.
Daines, a member of the Senate foreign relations committee, was heavily involved in negotiations over US-China trade during Trump’s first term, and has made multiple trips to China as a senator. He lived in Guangzhou and Hong Kong in the 1990s while working as an executive for Proctor & Gamble.
Beijing has been trying to attract foreign investment to offset US tariff pressure and its slowing domestic economy.
Relations between China and the US have come under new strain after Trump slapped additional tariffs on Chinese goods, accusing Beijing of not doing enough to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
In early April, Trump is expected to unleash a round of tariffs on all countries that tax US imports, potentially including China. A US review of whether China has fulfilled promises made during the “phase one” trade deal from Trump’s first administration is set to conclude on 1 April. “Currently, US-China relations have come to an important juncture,” Li told Daines in their meeting, stressing the need to choose dialogue over confrontation.
“Our two sides need to choose dialogue over confrontation, win-win cooperation over zero-sum competition,” Li said.
The US executives were granted an audience with Li Qiang, who will not meet separately with other foreign CEOs at the China Development Forum for the second year in a row.
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The annual closed-door meeting with the premier was traditionally viewed as a summit highlight by foreign CEOs, who saw it as an opportunity to air their concerns.
Other Chinese officials present at the meeting with Daines and the US executives included Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, Executive Vice-Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu and the director of China’s state planner, Zheng Shanjie.
Daines met Vice-Premier He Lifeng in Beijing on Saturday. He discussed the need for China to stop the flow of fentanyl precursors and “expressed hope that further high-level talks between the US and China will take place in the near future,” according to a post he put on the social media platform X.
