Scott Bessent confirms weekend meeting with He Lifeng days before Xi’s US visit

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Tuesday that he will meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng this coming weekend, marking the final preparatory discussions between the two nations just days before President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for a bilateral summit with US President Donald Trump. Bessent stated during a House Financial Services Committee hearing that he has engaged in "very good private discussions" with He and anticipates their continuation during the upcoming weekend meeting.

The Treasury Secretary responded to queries regarding China's alleged involvement in facilitating commercial transactions with Iran and whether the United States planned to take action against such entities. Bessent's meeting with He will likely cover the expected economic ramifications of the Trump-Xi summit, as well as initiate preliminary dialogues on artificial intelligence safety and governance.

Earlier this week, the South China Morning Post reported that Washington and Beijing plan to integrate the long-awaited AI dialogue into a broader economic summit. Chinese President Xi and Trump had previously agreed in May to establish an intergovernmental AI dialogue, which had been conducted separately from the economic talks led by Bessent and He for months.

The AI channel has faced challenges in making progress, with several key aspects of the planned talks still unsettled as Xi's visit nears. It is now expected that Bessent will address both AI and economic concerns in a unified meeting with He, instead of conducting separate high-level discussions. Bessent is responsible for representing the US in both channels, and the tight timeline ahead of the summit has complicated the organization of a second meeting.

The latest arrangements echo those from May, when Bessent and He held talks in Seoul just a few days prior to Trump and Xi's meeting in Beijing.