U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant. Reuters Yonhap News

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said on the 25th (local time) that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may hold up to four face-to-face summit meetings next year, including reciprocal state visits.

Speaking on CNBC, Bessant said, "President Trump is scheduled to pay a state visit to Beijing," and "President Xi is also scheduled to pay a state visit to the United States."

This reaffirmed President Trump's remarks the previous day that he would make a state visit to China in April next year, and that President Xi would reciprocate with a state visit to the U.S. within the year.

Bessant also predicted that the leaders of the U.S. and China would meet at least four times next year, with President Xi attending the Group of 20 (G20) summit in the U.S. and President Trump attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China.

Earlier, after a phone call with President Xi the previous day, President Trump announced on Truth Social, "President Xi invited me to visit Beijing in April (next year), and I accepted," adding, "(President Xi) will be my guest for a state visit to the United States next year."

Bessant said, "He (President Xi) will also come to the United States to attend the G20 summit in Doral, Florida," and "President Trump may attend the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China, in November."

President Trump had previously announced in September, "I am very pleased to announce that the G20 summit in 2026 will be held in Miami, Florida, one of America's greatest cities," and "The venue will be Doral (a golf resort in Miami owned by President Trump)."

According to Bessant's remarks, the leaders of the U.S. and China will not only pay reciprocal state visits next year but will also meet at multilateral forums like the G20 and APEC, hosted by their respective countries.

Bessant emphasized, "So if we have these four meetings in a year, it will provide great stability to the relationship between the two countries," adding, "Stability is good for the American people and good for the global economy."

However, Bessant stated, "We (the U.S. and China) will always be competitors. That's natural." This is interpreted as an understanding that even if the U.S. and China engage in "strategic cooperation" out of necessity, they are fundamentally in a position of strategic competition.

He added, "The U.S. position on Taiwan remains unchanged," and "President Trump and President Xi have agreed to pursue peace in the Ukraine conflict and cooperate towards that end."

Regarding the phone call between the two leaders the previous day, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported that President Trump said, "The United States understands the importance of the Taiwan issue to China." However, President Trump did not mention the Taiwan issue in his SNS post introducing the content of his call with President Xi.

Regarding China's purchase of U.S. soybeans, which was agreed upon at the Busan summit on the 30th of last month, Bessant explained, "We expect China to purchase at least 87.5 million tons over the next three and a half years," and "They are on schedule."

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that President Xi Jinping first requested the phone call with President Trump on the 24th.

The WSJ reported that this is the first time since the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001 that communication between the leaders of the U.S. and China has occurred at the initiative or request of the Chinese leader, when then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin sent a telegram to then-U.S. President George W. Bush.

However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated that she understood the call between President Trump and President Xi on the 24th to have been at the request of the United States.

Meanwhile, Bessant announced that he would be conducting final interviews for candidates to be the next Chair of the Federal Reserve (Fed) that day, stating, "This is the final round of interviews."

He introduced the five candidates as "five very strong individuals, and I was very impressed with all of them," adding, "I think there is a very good chance the President will announce (the next chair) before Christmas."

The five finalists for the next Fed chair are Kevin Hassett, Chairman of the White House National Economic Council (NEC); Kevin Warsh, former Federal Reserve Governor; Christopher Waller, Federal Reserve Governor; Michelle Bowman, Federal Reserve Governor (also Vice Chair for Banking Supervision); and Rick Rieder, Chief Investment Officer for Fixed Income at asset management firm BlackRock.

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