In a series of conciliatory gestures this month, Beijing has moved to ease trade tensions with Washington ahead of an anticipated meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. The steps include approving imports of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips, a surge in American soybean purchases, and the release of a detained Chinese pastor.
Trump said Monday that a meeting with Xi could take place around September 24, coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly session in New York. He floated the date while discussing plans for a new White House ballroom, describing an anticipated visit from the Chinese leader as one justification for building it. Trump is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 22 and typically remains in New York for several nights to meet other world leaders. Xi has attended the assembly only once since taking office in 2012.
Nvidia Chip Approval Signals Tech Concession
Beijing has authorized Chinese technology giants, including Alibaba and ByteDance, to purchase up to 200,000 units of Nvidia’s H200 processors, according to The Information. The H200 chips, used in advanced AI platforms, are two generations behind Nvidia’s latest flagship models but remain more powerful than domestic Chinese alternatives. Trump approved the export of H200 chips to China last December, opening the door for Chinese buyers to place orders.
To win approval, Chinese companies must specify how many chips they require and justify the request. Beijing has yet to settle on an overall quota, and the eventual total could fall short of the 200,000 units floated earlier. Chinese officials have stressed that any imported H200 chips would be reserved for training advanced AI models rather than for routine daily inference work, which is expected to rely on domestically produced processors instead.
“The total number of approved chips is still being finalized, but the overall quota is expected to fall short of 200,000 units, less than half of what domestic firms applied for earlier this year,” says a columnist with PCPop.com, a Chinese technology news site. “Even a limited allocation cannot fully close the industry’s shortfall, but it will still ease pressure on China’s high-end computing needs and speed up development of homegrown large language models.”
The decision comes amid a broader US crackdown on chip exports. On May 31, the US Commerce Department moved to close a loophole that had allowed Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to reach China through overseas units of Chinese companies, mainly in Singapore and Malaysia. The Bureau of Industry and Security said a license would now be required to export advanced processors to entities ultimately headquartered in China, a measure that also applies to chipmaker AMD. For more on Beijing’s broader response to US chip controls, see China's Multi-Pronged Strategy to Counter US Chip Export Controls.
Soybean Purchases and Pastor Release
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that China’s state-owned trader Cofco has booked at least six cargoes of American soybeans for shipment between September and October. The US Department of Agriculture disclosed on Wednesday that Beijing had purchased 472,000 metric tons of soybeans in a single sale, the largest daily volume shipped to China since November 2025. The purchases align with commitments Xi made during his summit with Trump in Beijing in May, when the two leaders agreed on stepped-up fentanyl enforcement, an increase in American agricultural purchases, greater access to rare earth minerals, and Beijing’s pledge to purchase 200 Boeing aircraft.
At Trump’s request, China also released Pastor Kim Myeongil, who led China’s largest evangelical underground church before his arrest last October, and sent him to the US, according to a US official. Trump also raised the case of Jimmy Lai, the jailed Hong Kong media tycoon, but Beijing has yet to free him.
Taiwan Arms Sale Remains a Flashpoint
Beijing’s gestures followed a call on June 30 between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which Wang warned that the Taiwan issue affects the broader relationship and urged Washington to handle related matters with great caution. “Both sides should always uphold the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit, and translate the consensus reached by the two heads of state into concrete policies,” Wang said. “To do so, both sides need to expand the cooperation list and create a more positive agenda, while narrowing the list of problems and managing various risks. A slight move on the Taiwan issue could affect the whole situation.”
Wang was believed to be referring to a proposed US$14 billion US arms sale to Taiwan, which includes HIMARS rocket systems, howitzers, Javelin anti-tank missiles, Altius loitering munitions, and ATACMS. In late May, acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the US was pausing the planned sale to ensure it had enough weapons for the Iran war. In early June, Rubio clarified at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that the arms sale to Taiwan had not been halted but remained under review, and that US policy toward Taiwan had not changed.
Beijing is also discussing with the US a proposed trade mechanism for non-sensitive goods, under which each side would identify about $30 billion in goods eligible for reduced tariffs and mutual sales without cross-subsidies. The moves suggest both sides are seeking to stabilize ties ahead of the summit, though significant differences remain on technology, Taiwan, and human rights.
