WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he expected to reach a “good” trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a regional summit next week, even as he cautioned the meeting could still be called off.
Trump has repeatedly changed his mind on meeting the Chinese president at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea since first announcing the encounter.
“So now we’re going to have a fair deal, and I think we’re going to have a very successful meeting. Certainly, there are a lot of people that are waiting for it,” Trump told a lunch event with Republican senators at the White House.
But he then added: “Maybe it won’t happen. Things can happen where, for instance, maybe somebody will say, ‘I don’t want to meet. It’s too nasty.'” But it’s really not nasty.”
Trump first announced on September 19 that he would meet Xi in South Korea — which would be their first encounter since his return to the White House — and travel to China early next year.
But on October 10, he threatened to scrap the Xi talks and threatened China with massive tariffs after Beijing imposed export curbs on rare earth minerals, only to reverse course.
The US president has apparently softened his stance again though, saying as recently as Monday that they would meet and that his trip to China “fairly early next year” was “sort of set.”
Trump’s visit to China
On Monday, Trump said that he would visit China early next year, expressing optimism about reaching a trade agreement with Xi.
Speaking at the White House alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Trump said he had accepted an invitation from Xi to visit Beijing.
“I’ve been invited to go to China, and I’ll be doing that sometime fairly early next year. We have it sort of set,” he told reporters.
Ahead of bilateral talks with Albanese, Trump said he expected to finalise what he called a “fair trade deal” with China during the upcoming talks.
“I want to be good to China. I love my relationship with President Xi. We have a great relationship,” he said.
The US president added that he hoped to resolve long-standing trade issues between the world’s two largest economies.
“I think we’ll end up with a very strong trade deal. Both of us will be happy,” Trump said, while also boasting of US military strength.
China calls for ‘equal’ trade talks
In Beijing, China reiterated its call for “equal and mutually respectful” negotiations with Washington as the two sides prepared for a new round of economic talks this week.
“Tariff wars and trade wars are not in the interests of any parties,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press briefing.
“Both sides should resolve relevant issues through consultations based on equality, mutual respect, and reciprocity.”
Guo confirmed that Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had agreed during a video call on Saturday to meet in person later this week, likely in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tensions over tariffs and export controls
The latest diplomatic outreach follows heightened tension between Washington and Beijing. Trump recently threatened to impose a 100% tariff on Chinese imports in response to China’s new export restrictions on rare earth minerals.
However, he appeared to soften his stance last week, acknowledging that “high tariffs on Chinese imports were not sustainable.”
On Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that his top priorities for negotiations with Beijing would include rare earths, fentanyl, and soybeans. “I don’t want them to play the rare earth game with us,” he said.
Beijing, in turn, accused Washington of “causing panic” over its export controls and later sanctioned US units of a South Korean shipping company.
