Scott Besant, U.S. Treasury Secretary, and He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council of China, met in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 14, 2025, for high-level trade talks./Reuters Yonhap News

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) in Hong Kong and Bloomberg reported on the 4th that China and the United States will hold a high-level trade meeting in Paris next weekend as a preparatory step for a visit to China by U.S. President Donald Trump.

SCMP, citing government sources in both countries, said delegations led by He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council of China, and Scott Besant, U.S. Treasury Secretary, are scheduled to meet in Paris next weekend to discuss trade and investment negotiations covering tariffs, investment, soybean and aircraft purchases, and rare earths, and that the outcome will be presented as a key deliverable when President Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The dates for the U.S.-China high-level talks in Paris appear to be the 15th and 16th. Bloomberg had earlier reported that Vice Premier He and Secretary Besant would hold working-level meetings in Paris related to the summit. Relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce of China and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, have not made an official announcement.

Earlier, President Trump announced that he would visit China from the 31st of this month to the 2nd of next month. Since then, as the United States and Israel attacked Iran, a Chinese ally, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died, experts have debated the possibility of canceling the summit.

At a press briefing in Beijing on the eve of the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature of China, when a related question arose, spokesperson Lou Jinqian said, “Summit diplomacy between states plays an irreplaceable role as strategic guidance in U.S.-China relations”.