US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met in South Korea for "economic and trade consultations", Chinese state media reported.

The two sides held "a candid, in-depth and constructive exchange on resolving economic and trade issues of mutual concern and further expanding practical cooperation", Xinhua news agency said.

China's commerce ministry shared the Xinhua report on its official website without elaborating on the issues discussed.

Trade is just one of the thorny issues Trump and Xi are expected to cover when they meet in China on Thursday and Friday.

Washington and Beijing last year slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's exports, with levies exceeding 100 percent.

Trump and Xi agreed on a year-long truce at a meeting last October in South Korea, and expanding upon that deal is one potential item on their agenda this week.

"Economic security is national security," Bessent said as he announced his South Korea trip on social media.

He and Bessent's talks took place at Incheon International Airport, near Seoul, Xinhua reported earlier.

Afterwards, Bessent was due to travel to Beijing ahead of the Trump-Xi summit.

More than a dozen business executives including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla boss Elon Musk are also travelling to China with Trump.

Other topics the US president is expected to discuss with Xi include the Iran war, Taiwan and artificial intelligence.