US President Donald Trump might visit China before going to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit between Oct 30 and Nov 1, or he could meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC event in South Korea, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday (Jul 20) citing multiple sources.
The two countries have been trying to negotiate an end to an escalating tit-for-tat tariff war that has upended global trade and supply chains.
The two sides have discussed a potential meeting between the leaders in the region this year, but they have not confirmed a date or location yet, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Trump has sought to impose tariffs on US importers for virtually all foreign goods, which he says will stimulate domestic manufacturing and which critics say will make many consumer goods more expensive for Americans.
He has called for a universal base tariff rate of 10 percent on goods imported from all countries, with higher rates for imports from the most “problematic” ones, including China: imports from there now have the highest tariff rate of 55 percent.
Trump has set a deadline of Aug 12 for the US and China to reach a durable tariffs agreement.
