Trump, Xi to meet next week at APEC summit, White House says

Kate Sullivan and Lauren Dezenski, Bloomberg News on Oct 23, 2025

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet next Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the White House announced, as the leaders of the world’s two largest economies look to deescalate a simmering trade war.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the timing of the meeting during a press briefing Thursday.

The meeting in South Korea, which is hosting the APEC summit, will be the first face-to-face for the leaders since Trump returned to power in January. The two have spoken at least three times this year — most recently in September. Trump and Xi last met in person in 2019, during Trump’s first White House term.

Trump has long said direct talks with Xi are the best way to resolve the lingering issues between the countries, including tariffs, export curbs, agricultural purchases, fentanyl trafficking and geopolitical flashpoints such as Taiwan.

The U.S. president has touted his relationship with Xi but that rapport will be put to the test, following weeks of escalating tensions between the economic superpowers. Trump earlier this month floated the possibility of scrapping their meeting altogether amid anger over Chinese export curbs on rare-earth minerals.

The meeting comes as a trade truce between Washington and China is set to expire on Nov. 10, unless it’s extended. The pause on higher tariffs, which has already been renewed multiple times this year, helped ease tensions after the countries ratcheted duties up to sky-high levels. That détente has been threatened by a fresh wave of trade measures in recent weeks.

The United States has broadened tech restrictions on China, floated levies on Chinese ships at U.S. ports and is also considering additional export limits on a wide swath of critical software. Beijing, in turn, has outlined tighter export controls on rare earths and other critical minerals used in a broad range of industries, including technology, energy and transportation.

Trump has threatened to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese products on Nov. 1 if Beijing does not relent on the rare-earth curbs, even as he has said that the high levies are “not sustainable.” Those Chinese curbs have sparked international backlash, sending other economies to look for alternative supply chains for those minerals and consider retaliation.

The U.S. president in recent days predicted that the talks with Xi would produce a “good deal” on “everything” related to trade, touting his “great relationship” with the Chinese leader.

The Trump-Xi meeting will cap a trip to Asia that will also see the U.S. president stop in Malaysia and Japan. Leavitt said the president is scheduled to depart Washington on Friday evening and is expected to arrive in Malaysia — his first stop on the trip — early Sunday morning, local time, for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. Trump is slated to hold a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and attend an ASEAN leaders dinner on Sunday evening, she said.

The president will depart on Monday for Tokyo, ahead of a Tuesday meeting with new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Trump is scheduled to fly to South Korea on Wednesday, where he will meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, deliver a keynote address at the APEC CEO luncheon and participate in a working dinner with other leaders attending the summit.