Trump expects China deal, but warns Xi talks may not happen
WASHINGTON
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he expected to seal a "good" trade deal with China's Xi Jinping at a regional summit next week, even as he warned the highly anticipated sit-down might yet be cancelled.
Trump has repeatedly changed his mind on meeting the Chinese president at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea since first announcing the encounter.
"So now we're going to have a fair deal, and I think we're going to have a very successful meeting. Certainly, there are a lot of people that are waiting for it," Trump told a lunch event with Republican senators at the White House on Oct. 21.
But he then added: "Maybe it won't happen. Things can happen where, for instance, maybe somebody will say, 'I don't want to meet. It's too nasty.'" But it's really not nasty."
Trump first announced on Sept. 19 that he would meet Xi in South Korea, which would be their first encounter since his return to the White House, and travel to China early next year.
But on Oct. 10 he threatened to scrap the Xi talks and threatened China with massive tariffs after Beijing imposed export curbs on rare earth minerals, only to reverse course.
The U.S. president has apparently softened his stance again though, saying as recently as Oct. 20 that they would meet and that his trip to China "fairly early next year" was "sort of set."
