Picent says Trump and Xi still plan to meet this month

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US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said Donald Trump and Xi Jinping still plan to meet this month despite the recent escalation in trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

“I think the meeting will still stand,” Besant told Fox Business on Monday, referring to the scheduled summit at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in South Korea.

Besant’s comments represent a shift from Trump’s social media post on Friday in which the US president criticized China’s sweeping restrictions on the export of rare earths and critical minerals.

“I was scheduled to meet President Xi in two weeks… but now it seems there is no reason to do so,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

But Trump struck a more conciliatory tone on Sunday, writing: “The United States wants to help China, not hurt it!!!”

Besant said Chinese and US officials would hold talks this week, adding that there had been “substantial communication” over the weekend after the sudden escalation in tensions last week.

Officials from both sides are scheduled to hold talks in Washington this week during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

China’s move last week to announce export restrictions on rare earths and critical minerals threatened global supply chains and reignited trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

In response, Trump said on Friday that he would impose additional 100 percent tariffs on imports from China on November 1 unless the two sides reach an agreement. Trump and Xi are expected to meet in Jeonju, South Korea, on September 29.

“They’ve pointed the bazooka at the supply chains and industrial base of the entire free world, and we’re not going to get it,” Besant said. “China is a command-and-control economy. They will not command or control us.”