At a recent business forum in Beijing, leaders from major global companies aimed to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, many were particularly impressed by Vice Premier He Lifeng, Xi’s trusted confidant and chief lieutenant, who oversees China’s economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Xi to discuss a potential trade deal after imposing 145% tariffs on Chinese goods. However, any resolution to the economic tensions will likely go through He, Xi’s Sino-American trade tsar.
Reuters interviewed 13 foreign investors and diplomats who met with Vice Premier He Lifeng over the past year. They noted his transformation from a rigid Communist Party official with limited English and a reliance on prepared speeches into a more confident, results-driven leader. He also holds significant regulatory authority over China’s financial sector.
Increased Meetings
The vice premier has held at least 60 meetings with foreigners in the past year, according to Reuters’ review of his public engagements. That marks a steady increase from 45 between March 2023, when he took office as vice premier, and March 2024.
China’s State Council did not respond to a faxed request for comment. The White House, which has since signalled a willingness to de-escalate, declined to respond to questions about its willingness to engage with He.
Trump has asserted several times that Beijing and Washington were already in trade talks and he told Time magazine in an interview published Friday that Xi had called him, without specifying when. The two leaders had spoken before Trump took office in January.
China has denied that tariff-related negotiations are ongoing, though it recently exempted some U.S. goods from retaliatory tariffs. Beijing has called on Washington to stop using threats and “extreme pressure” and requested a counterpart for potential talks.
Defender Of Status Quo?
If detailed trade talks begin, Li Chenggang, China’s chief trade negotiator, will handle daily discussions, but Vice Premier He Lifeng will oversee the talks, aimed at reducing the U.S.’s $300 billion trade deficit with China.
Despite his improved rapport with Western executives, He is not seen as a policy innovator. His enhanced reputation with American business leaders may stem from China’s perceived predictability and confidence, especially compared to the chaos in the U.S.
He last served as head of China’s key macroeconomic planning agency, where he was responsible for formulating industrial policy, and has repeatedly defended Beijing’s export-led growth strategy in meetings with foreigners.
A U.S. business person told Reuters that He, who has supported boosting manufacturing over domestic consumption, serves as Xi’s “chief lieutenant for building a trillion-dollar surplus”.
He at other meanings had also repeatedly brushed off complaints about Chinese overcapacity, which are shared by many countries that Beijing is now courting as it seeks export pressure valves and new cooperation avenues, three people told Reuters.
“On the daily level, He will be defending China’s trade surplus,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. “It’s hard to see He softening down on the trade surplus, an issue pivotal to China’s job creation.”
The vice premier has been on the frontline of China’s recent outreach to developed markets like Japan and the European Union.
He will also travel to Paris next month for an economic dialogue at which French officials hope to discuss China potentially lifting tariffs on cognac imports, according to a diplomatic source.