US and Chinese negotiators were discussing a shortlist of potential Chinese investments in the US that includes EVs and battery storage, ahead of a meeting between Presidents in Shenzhen next month, the South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday, citing multiple unnamed sources.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting will be held in Shenzhen on November 18 and 19, according to the Chinese government.
Shenzhen is where the Chinese giant BYD is headquartered. The company is set to start sales of passenger vehicles in Canada as road testing of multiple models and hiring continue.
Chinese automakers face steep barriers to selling cars in the US.
Imported Chinese EVs carry a 100% Section 301 tariff, which brings total US duties on them above 100%, and a Commerce Department rule bars manufacturers with a “sufficient nexus” to China from selling new connected vehicles in the country from model year 2027, “even if the vehicle was made in the United States.”
Trump-Xi
It would be the third in-person meeting between the two leaders this year, after Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing in May and Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington in September.
Power equipment infrastructure was also among the sectors under consideration for Chinese investment in “non-sensitive sectors” in the US, the Post reported. However, two of the newspaper’s sources said those areas could still be politically sensitive and commercially risky for Chinese companies.
That left open the possibility that negotiators could settle on investments in consumer goods instead, according to the report.
Neither the White House nor China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has named any investment projects in its statements on the September talks.
Details Pending
Negotiators had made “considerable progress” on the Board of Investment discussions since Xi and Trump met in Washington last month, the Post said, citing anonymous sources.
According to one source, the teams were following the model of the Board of Trade to formalize the investment board’s structure and define its mandate.
“The two countries established the Board of Investment,” the White House said in a fact sheet on September 25.
Its mission is “to discuss potential investment opportunities and investment-related impediments and to provide a structured channel for the two sides to address commercially meaningful investment-related issues,” the fact sheet said.
MOFCOM said on September 28 that the two sides had “agreed to establish” the board, which “will build an institutionalized communication platform for the two sides.”
But only for the Board of Trade did MOFCOM say the teams had reached consensus on the “mission, structure, responsibilities and meeting schedules.” Neither government has named the investment board’s members or a date for its first meeting.
Trump and Xi first chartered both boards at their May summit in Beijing, when the White House said the Board of Investment “will provide a government-to-government forum for discussing investment-related issues.”
The investment board still faced opposition from US business leaders concerned about greater competition from Chinese firms, one source told the Post.
‘Not Cars’
Trump has said he would accept Chinese car plants in the US.
“If China wanted to come in and open a plant to build their cars here, I’d be OK with that,” Trump said on Fox News on September 11.
His Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, ruled out Chinese investment in the US auto industry in April. Asked on the sidelines of a Semafor event in Washington about other Chinese companies investing, he said: “Not cars, not cars.”
A Commerce Department rule finalised in January 2025 “prohibits manufacturers with a sufficient nexus to the PRC or Russia from selling new connected vehicles” in the US, “even if the vehicle was made in the United States,” according to the Bureau of Industry and Security.
That prohibition takes effect with model year 2027.
Volvo, controlled by China’s Geely, received a specific authorization under the rule in May. Commerce refused one for Polestar, Geely’s other Swedish brand, in June.
Six US auto industry groups wrote to Trump on September 17, after his Fox interview. “Domestic assembly of Chinese vehicles doesn’t resolve the connected vehicle security threat,” their letter said.
Senators Bernie Moreno and Elissa Slotkin introduced a bill in April to ban vehicles from foreign adversaries, including China.
Two of the Post’s sources said large-scale, long-term Chinese investment in the US was unlikely regardless of sector. Xi’s Washington visit produced no public announcement on vehicles.
Truce Runs to January
The two sides are also negotiating over their trade truce. China and the US reached a joint arrangement in Kuala Lumpur in October 2025 that suspended certain tariff and non-tariff measures until November 10, 2026, according to MOFCOM.
In September, they agreed to extend it to January 10, 2027, the ministry said.
“It is believed that the two sides will continue to work towards a positive solution for further extension through high-level economic and trade interactions before the end of the year,” MOFCOM said.
Three of the Post’s sources said each side was seeking to use leverage in those talks: rare earths for China, and jet engine and aircraft parts for the US.
The White House said on September 25 that the two countries “continue to work on US concerns regarding supply chain shortages related to rare earths and other critical minerals, with the goal of ensuring shipment levels return to appropriate levels.”
Beijing was reluctant to increase critical mineral supplies, viewing them as its “most effective economic weapon,” another source told the Post. China’s rare earth export controls disrupted EV supply chains in 2025.
After talks with the European Union in Beijing on October 8 and 9, China said it was “willing to continue facilitating” export licences for rare earths and permanent magnets.
The EU said China had agreed to halve its hybrid exports to the bloc, while Beijing’s text gave no figure.
China’s Ministry of Commerce also warned Britain on Monday that it would take “firm countermeasures” if the UK restricts Chinese EVs.
Shenzhen, Then Miami
The White House said in its September 25 fact sheet that the two countries would support each other as hosts of the G20 and APEC, “with both leaders intending to attend each other’s Summit.”
Negotiations may not conclude in time for an announcement at APEC and could spill over into the G20 summit in December, three sources told the Post.
The US will host the G20 leaders’ summit at Trump National Doral Miami on December 14 and 15.
