(Bloomberg) -- Global CEOs including Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook are expected to meet top trade Chinese negotiator He Lifeng in Beijing this week, according to people familiar with the matter — a gathering that would coincide with an uptick in trade tensions between China and the US.

The business executives are part of an advisory board for Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management that typically gathers every year. The CEOs expect to get an audience with He, a vice premier, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.

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Meetings with top Chinese leaders are rarely confirmed until the last minute. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Apple didn’t immediately respond for a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

The sitdown would come at a fraught time in bilateral ties as the US has called for a response with other nations to China’s curbs on rare earths announced last week. The new rules would require Chinese approval for products containing even trace amounts of certain minerals. Beijing has justified its moves as defensive actions after the US introduced new restrictive measures targeting China after trade talks in Madrid in September.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday at a CNBC forum in Washington that President Donald Trump is still expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month in South Korea. Bessent also said there’s a “very good chance” that he would travel to Asia before Trump to meet He.

Last year, Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang met the Tsinghua advisory board representatives and welcomed their suggestions on China’s economy. The board was founded in 2000 to bring together business executives, administrators and scholars to discuss economic issues and the management school’s development.

Cook, who chaired the advisory board last year, pledged on Wednesday in Beijing to boost investment in China during a meeting with Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Lecheng. Cook also outlined a donation to Tsinghua University, the country’s most prestigious college and Xi’s alma mater.

--With assistance from Mark Gurman.

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