Vice Premier He Lifeng has long been a confidant of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Initially, he disappointed foreign investors, but later gained trust and experience, and is now the man who puts Donald Trump in his place.
When leaders of some of the world’s largest companies gathered last month in Beijing for a business forum, their main goal was a much-anticipated meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. However, many were impressed by Vice Premier He Lifeng, as reported by Reuters.
A long-time confidant of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, He Lifeng is the man he has appointed to oversee the workings of the world's second-largest economy.
Reuters interviewed 13 foreign investors and diplomats who met with He in the past year. They spoke about the transformation of this 70-year-old figure from a rigid Communist Party cadre with poor English and a reluctance to deviate from prepared remarks into a more confident figure who impressed them with his ability to get things done.
In the beginning, he was "The Demolisher"
He Lifeng grew professionally in the local bureaucracy of his native province of Fujian, where Xi Jinping built his power base as a local official in the '90s and early 2000s.
During that time, he became a trusted aide to Xi and attended the future leader's wedding, as previously reported by Reuters.
He was then transferred to the industrial port city of Tianjin in 2009, where locals dubbed him "the Demolisher" because he embarked on a massive urban renewal campaign and costly infrastructure projects that gave the city a shiny image but also plunged it into debt.
Alfred Wu, a China expert at the National University of Singapore, said He focused on stimulating economic growth and was particularly useful in real estate and urban redevelopment, "much like many local officials at that time."
Wu, who met He while working as a journalist in Fujian, described him as "an ordinary local bureaucrat and a typical protege of Xi Jinping."
"His number one priority is implementing Xi's directives, which largely places him in a subordinate position," he added.
From "ChatGPT style" to a position of strength
Before taking on his current role, the economic portfolio was led by Liu He, a Harvard-educated economist with fluent English who negotiated a trade deal with the U.S. during the first Trump administration.
While Vice Premier He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Xiamen University, his domestically-focused experience meant he had a learning curve to serve as China's economic leader on the world stage.
Some American executives were disappointed by He after he informed them last July about the outcome of a key economic policy meeting, said a person present at the meeting. She said the vice premier, who according to party practice should retire in 2027, was not assertive enough at the briefing, where he was flanked by dozens of advisers.
On the other hand, his predecessors like Liu and Wang Qishan were known among foreign interlocutors for their eloquence and relatively informal behavior.
A businessperson described previous discussions with the vice premier as a "conversation with ChatGPT." However, the Chinese official has recently started communicating in a way that has caught the attention of Western executives.
The source, who has met He several times, was also impressed by the Chinese vice premier's ability to explain Beijing's position on economic policy and fulfill promises of assistance in a way that officials not close to Xi have failed to do.
Another foreign official who met He this year also said that the vice premier is very aware of China's economic issues - which include deflationary pressures and an aging population, in addition to tariffs and the real estate crisis - and presented a sophisticated analysis of them.
Washington must get past Xi's man
American President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged Xi to reach out for discussions on a potential trade deal after imposing tariffs of 145% on most Chinese goods.
Trump has stated multiple times that Beijing and Washington were already in trade talks and told Time magazine in an interview published on Friday that Xi called him, without specifying when.
China has denied that Xi called Trump and that tariff-related negotiations are ongoing, although on Friday, it exempted some American goods from its retaliatory tariffs.
Beijing has also called on Washington to stop issuing threats and abandon "extreme pressures" if it wants to reach a deal. Additionally, Beijing has asked America to designate a counterpart for potential discussions.
Any potential agreement to ease economic tensions will likely go through the hands of He, the man who is the trade tsar between China and America.
If detailed discussions begin between the two parties, Li Chenggang, recently appointed Beijing's chief trade negotiator, will be actively involved on a daily basis. But He will play a key role in overseeing these talks where Washington will seek to reduce the nearly $300 billion merchandise trade deficit with Beijing.
Vice Premier He has had at least 60 meetings with foreign officials in the past year, according to Reuters' analysis of his public engagements. This is a steady increase from the 45 meetings between March 2023, when he took office as vice premier, and March 2024.
Xi's "chief lieutenant" doesn't back down
While he is increasingly adept at interacting with Western executives, many of the businesspeople interviewed by Reuters said that initially, He was not a policy innovator.
An American businessperson stated that He, who supported boosting production over domestic consumption, is "Xi's chief lieutenant," tasked with building a trillion-dollar surplus in China's foreign trade.
He Lifeng has repeatedly dismissed complaints about Chinese overproduction shared by many countries now courted by Beijing in search of new pressure valves for exports and new avenues of cooperation, said three sources to the news agency.
"Day by day, He will defend China's trade surplus. It's hard to see He backing down on the trade surplus, a critical issue for job creation in China," said Wen-Ti Sung, senior member at the Atlantic Council's Global China Center.
Vice Premier He has been at the forefront of China's recent actions in developed markets like Japan and the European Union. He will also travel to Paris next month for an economic dialogue, during which French officials hope to discuss the possible lifting of tariffs on imports of cognac, according to a diplomatic source.