United States (US) president Donald Trump will meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping ahead of a major regional economic summit being held in South Korea next week, the White House has confirmed.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing on Thursday that Trump is scheduled to participate in a “bilateral meeting” with Xi in South Korea on the morning of 30 October, before returning to Washington.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit – an inter-governmental forum promoting free trade among 21 economies located around the Pacific Rim – will be held in the city of Gyeongju on 31 October and 1 November.
Leavitt did not clarify whether Trump would be attending the Apec summit itself.
Trump earlier confirmed his meeting with Xi, saying on Wednesday that the leaders “have a pretty long meeting scheduled”, before adding that he hoped the superpowers could “work out a lot of our doubts and questions”.
“I think something will work out. We have a very good relationship, but that will be a big one,” Trump said as he answered questions alongside Northern Atlantic Treaty Organisation chief Mark Rutte at the White House.
The meeting between Trump and Xi will take place amid escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The US leader has imposed a 30% tariff on Chinese imports into the US and threatened higher levies in the near future should a deal not be struck.
Trump also said he will push Xi to stop Chinese companies from purchasing Russian oil, after he imposed his first sanctions on Moscow on Wednesday since returning to the White House.
The sanctions package – which targeted Russia’s two largest oil firms, Rosneft and Lukoil – was the result of Russian president Vladimir Putin refusing “to end this senseless war” in Ukraine, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said.
Outlining the US leader’s full itinerary, Leavitt said Trump will depart the White House on Friday night before landing in Malaysia, where the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit is taking place next Sunday.
“President Trump will participate in a bilateral meeting with the prime minister of Malaysia in the afternoon [on Sunday], and then he will attend the Asean leaders’ working dinner that evening,” she said.
The US leader will then travel to Tokyo on Monday morning, where he will attend a bilateral meeting with Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, on Tuesday.
Leavitt said Trump will then “travel to Busan on Wednesday [October 29] morning for a bilateral meeting with the president of the Republic of Korea, deliver a keynote address at the Apec chief executive luncheon and attend the leaders’ working dinner that evening”.
Korean government officials later said the meeting with South Korean president Lee Jae Myung would actually take place in the city of Gyeongju, where this year’s Apec summit is being hosted, according to The Korea Economic Daily newspaper.
The mix-up, according to the officials, likely stems from Busan reportedly being the venue for the US-China summit. Leavitt did not confirm where Trump would meet Xi in her comments to reporters on Thursday.
President Lee plans to hold meetings with Trump and Xi separately, according to South Korean presidential security adviser Wi Sung-lac.
“Through a series of summits between the leaders of South Korea and the US, the US and China, and South Korea and China, we will not only highlight South Korea’s role as a platform but also build consensus for peace, prosperity, and stability in the region,” Wi says.
He continues that South Korea was hoping to move forward with Washington on issues surrounding security and tariffs, but he was uncertain whether any agreement would be reached.
Industry minister Kim Jung-kwan said on Friday that Seoul and Washington remain “at odds” on how to implement a US$350-billion (N$6.1 trillion) investment pledge by South Korea as part of a deal to lower tariffs on its exports to the US.
–Al Jazeera
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