BEIJING, March 13, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - China's top economic official will leave on Saturday for talks with his US counterpart in France, less than three weeks before President Donald Trump's expected summit with President Xi Jinping.

The discussions in Paris between the world's top two economies were confirmed on Thursday by Washington, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent set to lead the US delegation.

The diplomatic engagements come at a tumultuous time for the global economy, as energy markets are sent spinning from the impact of the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Beijing is a close partner of Tehran and has condemned the killing of the former supreme leader, but it has also criticised Iranian strikes against Gulf states.

"As agreed by China and the United States, (Vice Premier) He Lifeng... will lead a delegation to France from March 14 to 17 to hold economic and trade consultations with the US side," an unidentified spokesperson for Beijing's commerce ministry said in an online statement on Friday.

The officials will "conduct consultations on economic and trade issues of mutual concern", the statement said, without giving further details about the timing or content of the talks.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, declined to comment when asked about China's expectations for the talks at a news conference on Friday.

Bessent, who will be accompanied by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, said in a statement on Thursday that "economic dialogue" between the countries "is moving forward".

The US Treasury Department said the talks would be held on March 15 and 16.

The Paris gathering is seen as setting the stage for Trump's expected visit to China later this month.

Washington has said Trump will visit China from March 31 to April 2, although Beijing has yet to confirm those dates in line with its usual practice.

- New probes -

China and the United States have navigated a rocky economic relationship since Trump began a second term in January 2025.

The two economic powerhouses were locked in a blistering trade war last year, which saw reciprocal levies rise into triple digits at one point.

There are hopes that tensions could cool, although newly unveiled probes by Washington into international trade practices have again threatened more instability.

Greer announced on Wednesday new trade investigations into excess industrial capacity, targeting China and other key partners.

China's commerce ministry criticised the latest US probes as "a typical act of unilateralism that severely undermines the international economic and trade order".

"China urges the US side to correct its erroneous practices," it said in a separate statement on Friday.

Also this week, Washington launched trade investigations into 60 economies -- including China -- to look for "failures to take action on forced labour", the US Trade Representative office said.

The latest probes will likely take months, but could justify new tariffs after the US Supreme Court struck down Trump's sweeping global duties in February.

Asked on Friday about the US investigation into forced labour, China's foreign ministry said it "opposes all forms of unilateral tariff measures".

"The so-called forced labour is entirely a lie fabricated by the US side," Guo said.

"China opposes the use of such a pretext to engage in political manipulation."