U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on October 13 (local time) that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to hold a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Gyeongju, South Korea, this month.

Secretary Bessent, in an interview with Fox Business Network, stated that there had been substantial exchanges between the two countries over the weekend, which has "substantially de-escalated tensions." He added, "President Trump said tariffs will be imposed starting November 1. He is scheduled to meet with President Xi in South Korea, and I believe that schedule will proceed."

However, Bessent emphasized, "China is a command and control economy, but they will never be in a position to command or control us."

This comes after the trade conflict between the two nations had recently intensified. China announced export controls on rare earth minerals on October 9, prompting President Trump to threaten 100% retaliatory tariffs. On October 12, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce released a statement urging the U.S. to "immediately correct its erroneous actions," claiming that the U.S.'s repeated mentions of high tariffs were not a sound method of bilateral exchange.

Trump had initially dismissed the possibility of a summit with Xi at APEC, stating, "There is no reason to meet right now." However, he adopted a conciliatory tone on October 13, renewing the possibility of the meeting.

On Truth Social, President Trump posted, "Don't worry about China. It's all going to be fine," adding, "America only wants to help China, not hurt it." He concluded, "The highly respected President Xi Jinping of China just made a slight mistake. He doesn’t want to see his country in a recession, and neither do I."

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