Liu He

Core Economic Policymaker

Liu He's ancestral home is Changli, Hebei; he was born in Beijing on 25 January 1952 and attended the same secondary school as Xi Jinping, Beijing's No. 101 High School — the two became acquainted in their youth. In April 1969 he was sent to the countryside in Jilin as an "educated youth" during the Cultural Revolution. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in December 1976. After the resumption of the national college entrance examination in 1978, he was admitted to Renmin University of China's department of industrial economics, graduating in 1983 and staying on to teach; from 1983 to 1986 he pursued a master's degree in industrial economics at the same university, and later studied public administration at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in the United States. He served as executive deputy director of the State Information Center from 1998 to 2001, and as party secretary and deputy director of the State Council's Development Research Center from 2011 to 2013, concurrently serving as deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs. In 2012 he led the drafting of the report "A Comparative Study of Two Global Crises," comparing the Great Depression of 1929 with the 2008 global financial crisis; the report drew the attention of top Party leadership for its analysis and won the 16th Sun Yefang Prize in Economic Science in 2014.

Rise to Become Xi Jinping's Chief Economic Adviser

In March 2013, Liu He was promoted to director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs and concurrently vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, becoming one of the principal architects of Xi Jinping's economic policy and a lead drafter of the 12th and 13th Five-Year Plans and the sweeping reform agenda adopted at the Third Plenum of the 18th Party Congress in 2013. In October 2017 he was elected to the CCP Politburo at the 19th Party Congress; in March 2018 he was appointed Vice Premier of the State Council with responsibility for financial and trade affairs, while continuing to head the office of what was renamed that year the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission.

US-China Trade Negotiations

After the trade war broke out, Liu He became China's chief trade negotiator with the United States, leading multiple delegations to Washington to meet with USTR Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and others. He advocated resolving frictions through negotiation while defending China's core interests. In January 2020, he signed the Phase One trade agreement on behalf of China.

Retirement and Continuing Influence

After the 20th Party Congress in October 2022, Liu He left the Politburo. In January 2023, still serving as Vice Premier, he addressed the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos — his last major international public appearance before leaving office; that March, following the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, he formally stepped down as Vice Premier. According to media reports, he has continued to be invited to internal meetings on economic affairs and retains some influence; on 7 July 2023, though no longer holding office, he met visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Beijing.