Bessent is set to meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Muing at Cheong Wa Dae in the morning before holding talks with visiting Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng later in the day.
He is also expected to meet with South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol and other senior financial officials to discuss a broad range of topics including tariffs, trade policy, and broader economic cooperation.
Before his arrival in Seoul, Bessent met with Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae and Japanese Finance Minister Katayama Satsuki in Tokyo the previous day as part of his three-nation trip.
Bessent will later head to Beijing, where he will join Trump, who is scheduled to land there later in the day for talks with Xi on Thursday and Friday. Trump's trip will mark the first visit by a U.S. president to China in nearly a decade, with the last such visit taking place during his first term in 2017.
Just ahead of his departure to Beijing, Trump told reporters that he is going to be talking "a lot of different things" with Xi, adding "I would say more than anything else will be trade."
Key topics for talks between the leaders of the world's two largest economies are expected to include efforts to stabilize energy supplies and reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid the prolonged conflict in the Middle East, as well as trade and tariff-related issues after the two countries clashed last year over steep tariffs.
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