US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng started talks in South Korea on Wednesday to lay the groundwork ahead of this week’s summit of the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies in Beijing.

Bessent and He began the talks at Incheon airport after each met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the presidential Blue House, Reuters witnesses said.

The discussions are expected to cover a range of issues to prepare for talks in Beijing between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that are set to run from Thursday to Friday.

The talks between Bessent and He were likely to be exploratory with limited immediate outcomes, said Kim Tae-hwang, a professor of international trade at Myongji University in Seoul.

“Both sides are essentially in a holding pattern ahead of the summit, sounding each other out, rather than seeking breakthroughs,” he said.

China’s lead trade negotiator, Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang, and Vice Finance Minister Liao Min were among the officials accompanying He.

At the Beijing summit, the leaders are expected to agree to set up forums to ease mutual trade and investment, while China is expected to announce purchases related to Boeing aeroplanes, American agriculture and energy, US officials have said.

Beijing also wants the United States to relax curbs on exports of advanced semiconductors, and has raised concerns about a bill to keep critical chip-making equipment from China.

They are considering extending a truce on China’s export curbs on rare earths at the summit, but Chinese customs data shows Beijing is still throttling shipments of the materials vital for defence and manufacturing.

The summit talks may also encompass the Iran war, as China, which maintains ties with Iran, is a major buyer of its oil.

Trump said on Tuesday, however, he did not think he would need China’s help to end the conflict, even as hopes for a lasting peace deal dwindled and Tehran tightened its grip over the Strait of Hormuz.

Neither side has strong incentives to make early concessions, however, said Kim, the academic, adding that the United States is unlikely to ease curbs on key technologies such as semiconductors.

China, in turn, buoyed by relatively resilient growth and trade performance, is under less pressure to offer significant compromises, he said.

President Donald Trump landed in Beijing accompanied by an entourage that included Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Elon Musk on Wednesday after pledging to urge China’s Xi Jinping to “open up” to US business at the start of their two-day summit.

Trump embarks on the first visit by a US president to China in nearly a decade eager to snag some deals, maintain a fragile trade truce with the world’s second economy, and prop up public approval ratings bruised by his war with Iran.

The CEOs accompanying Trump are drawn mainly from companies seeking to resolve business issues with China, such as Nvidia, which has struggled to get regulatory permission to sell its powerful H200 artificial intelligence chips there.

Trump asked Huang at the last minute to join the trip, said a source familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, and he was spotted boarding Air Force One during a refuelling stop in Alaska en route to Beijing.

“I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic,” he said in post on Truth Social, referring to the CEO delegation.

“I will make that my very first request.”

Asked about Trump’s post, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said Beijing stands ready to “expand cooperation, manage differences and inject more stability and certainty into the turbulent world”.

As Trump prepared for the pomp-filled occasion, his trade negotiator Scott Bessent wrapped up three hours of preparatory talks with Chinese officials in South Korea. China’s official Xinhua news agency described them as “candid, in-depth and constructive”, but officials did not offer any detailed summary.

Trump’s two days of meetings will include a grand reception at The Great Hall of the People, a tour of Unesco heritage site Temple of Heaven and a state banquet.

Apart from trade, the talks will cover a host of sensitive subjects from the Iran war to US arms sales to Taiwan.

Trump is widely expected to encourage China to convince Tehran to make a deal with Washington to end the conflict, though he has said he did not think he would need its help.

China reiterated on Wednesday its strong opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan, with the status of a $14-billion package awaiting Trump’s approval still unclear.

Bessent preps in South Korea

While Trump rubbed shoulders with executives aboard Air Force One, Bessent held his latest round of trade negotiations with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at a VIP reception room at South Korea’s Incheon airport.

The talks ran about three hours to end just before 4 p.m. (0700 GMT), a U.S. official said.

The two sides are eager to maintain a truce struck last October in which Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Xi backed away from choking global supplies of rare earths, vital in making items from electric cars to weapons.

They are also expected to discuss forums to support mutual trade and investment and dialogue on AI issues, while Washington looks to sell Boeing BA.N airplanes, farm goods and energy to China to cut a trade deficit that has long irked Trump, U.S. officials have said.

Beijing, for its part, wants the U.S. to ease curbs on exports of chipmaking equipment and advanced semiconductors.

Trump enters the talks with a weakened hand.

Courts have hemmed in his ability to levy tariffs at will on exports from China and other countries.

The Iran war has also boosted inflation at home and escalated the risk that Trump’s Republican Party will lose control of one or both legislative branches in November’s midterm elections.

Though the Chinese economy has faltered, Xi does not face comparable economic or political pressure.

“The Trump administration needs this meeting more than China does, as it needs to show to American voters that deals are signed, money is made,” said Liu Qian, founder and CEO of Wusawa Advisory, a Beijing-based geopolitical advisory firm.

While Trump has lauded his personal rapport with Xi and respect for China, several Beijing residents told Reuters they viewed his visit with a mixture of hope and suspicion.

“I don’t know if he’s genuinely sincere,” Lou Huilian, a 44-year-old who works in the oil trade said outside a metro station as she headed to work on Wednesday.

“But speaking as a Chinese person, and as someone working in trade, I just hope some good policies can come out of this.”