On October 23, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that US President Donald Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, within the framework of his trip to Asia.
Mr. Trump will depart for Malaysia and South Korea, where he will meet Mr. Tap on October 30 on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. Ms. Leavitt did not provide any details about the meeting.
The announcement comes amid escalating US-China trade tensions. Last week, Mr. Trump threatened to impose additional 100% tariffs on Chinese goods starting in November.
This is considered a new step to escalate tensions after Beijing decided to tighten regulations on rare earth exports. Previously, Mr. Trump admitted that such a high tax rate was unsustainable. Although China's new policy is not directly targeting the US, US high-tech corporations are heavily dependent on rare earth supply from China.
Although President Trump said a few weeks ago that he would meet President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit, he did not announce the exact date. However, he also left open the possibility of completely canceling the meeting between the two leaders due to anger over China's restrictions on rare earth mineral exports.
Then, on October 22, the US President announced that the two leaders would reach an agreement on all issues, from trade to nuclear energy. He said he also has a plan to address China's purchase of Russian oil.
The meeting in South Korea will be the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since Trump returned to power in January. The two sides have spoken by phone at least three times this year, but the last time they met in person was in 2019, during Trump's first term in the White House.
