According to informed sources, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with Jamie Dimon, Ray Dalio, and other global business executives while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Bloomberg reported on the 21st, citing anonymous sources, that He Lifeng, China’s chief economic official leading trade negotiations, met with global business executives, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam, and Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach. These individuals attended a luncheon hosted by a World Economic Forum official on Tuesday.
The World Economic Forum stated it would not comment on private meetings of individual participants. Representatives for JPMorgan Chase declined to comment. Apple, FedEx, Mastercard, and representatives for Dalio did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
He Lifeng's actions are in line with the Chinese leadership’s usual practice of holding private meetings with business executives during Davos. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment made outside regular working hours.
The said luncheon took place during the truce in the US-China trade war. After US President Trump imposed reciprocal tariff measures on most countries in April last year, China and the US fell into a trade war, with both sides imposing tariffs as high as 100%.
Although it is currently a truce period, the United States is still making great efforts to reduce its reliance on China in key industrial supply chains, while China is actively strengthening economic ties with other important trading partners.