Treasury Secretary Bessent says Trump-Xi meeting still on

Washington: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was still waiting for Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to meet, even as he warned that all options were open to retaliate against China’s decision to tighten rare earth exports.

“He will meet with Party Chairman Xi in Korea – I believe that meeting will continue,” Bessent told Fox Business on Monday. he said. He added that there had been “significant communication” over the weekend after Beijing failed to respond to US questions, apparently referring to questions raised about China’s rare earths announcement last week.

The move, which imposes sweeping global export controls on products containing even traces of some rare earths, led Trump to threaten on Friday to cancel a planned meeting with Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month. The president also announced plans to impose 100% additional tariffs on Chinese goods starting November 1.
“This is China’s fight against the world; they have aimed bazookas at the supply chains and industrial base of the entire free world, and we will not accept that,” Bessent said.

“We will not allow these export restrictions and controls to continue. I believe China is open to discussion on this issue,” the Treasury chief said. He said the United States would consult with its allies this week and expects to receive “strong global support from the Europeans, the Indians, the democracies in Asia.”

Bessent also said “staff-level meetings” will be held with Chinese officials in Washington this week during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He added that he personally expects to meet China’s vice premier “in Asia” ahead of the Trump-Xi matchup. Bessent’s counterpart in multiple rounds of trade talks this year has been Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng. When asked what leverage the United States could use to pressure Beijing to roll back export controls, Bessent said “everything is on the table” but added that he was “optimistic that this could be eased.”