Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng is set to meet with a US delegation in South Korea for trade talks. He Lifeng serves as China’s chief representative in trade discussions with the United States.

The upcoming talks in South Korea are part of a broader diplomatic initiative that traces back to a summit between President Trump and President Xi Jinping. That meeting produced something tangible: a formal trade consultation mechanism designed to give both sides a structured framework for managing economic discussions.

Seoul and Beijing have signed 14 bilateral memoranda of understanding covering economic cooperation and digital technology. South Korea has been deepening economic ties with both the US and China simultaneously, maintaining its security alliance with Washington while expanding commercial partnerships with Beijing.

The formal consultation mechanism between Washington and Beijing was designed to be ongoing, not a one-off meeting. The risk is that talks stall or collapse, sending both sides back to their respective corners and reigniting the tariff cycles that have whipsawed markets since 2018.