By Trevor Hunnicutt and ‌Sam Li

BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) – U.S. officials raised the prospect of China buying more American energy after Presidents Donald ​Trump and Xi Jinping held talks in Beijing on ⁠Thursday.

The White House said Xi expressed interest in buying more U.S. ​oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait of Hormuz in a readout of the two-hour-plus summit published after its conclusion on Thursday.

Shortly afterwards, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott ​Bessent told CNBC they had ​discussed Beijing buying more energy, and that production from Alaska would be a “natural” for ​China.

There was no mention of energy purchases in any of the Chinese summaries of the ⁠meeting published by state media. China’s foreign ministry did not respond ​to a request for comment.

Thursday was the first day of a two-day summit which Chinese state media said would set a new ‌course for relations between the countries.

Chinese purchases of U.S. energy ‌and ​agricultural products have been flagged as possible parts of a deal, although no concrete details have been unveiled yet.

China has not imported any ​U.S. oil since May 2025 because of 20% tariffs imposed during ​the trade war and the removal of those duties would likely be a prerequisite to any large-scale resumption of purchases.

Even at its peak, the U.S. has never been a major source of crude for the world’s largest oil importer.

Imports of U.S. oil peaked at about 395,000 ‌barrels per day (bpd) in 2020, accounting for just under 4% ​of China’s total imports.

In 2024, before Trump returned to office, that had fallen to 193,000 ​bpd, worth $6 billion.

The chairman of state-owned oil major CNPC, which has long-term contracts with U.S. liquefied natural gas producers, was expected at a banquet in ​Beijing ⁠on Thursday for the U.S. delegation.

Reuters previously ​reported that the U.S. and China are expected to move toward a trade mechanism for non-sensitive goods this week, with each side possibly identifying some $30 billion worth of goods on which they ‌could reduce tariffs.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Lewis Jackson and Sam Li in Beijing; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Thomas Derpinghaus, Philippa Fletcher)

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