Trump Ready To Meet Xi Jinping, US Doesn't Want A Protracted Conflict With China

US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping/DOCUMENTATION PHOTO White House via Wikimedia Commons

JAKARTA - US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insists Washington does not want to escalate trade conflicts with China.

Bessent confirmed US President Donald Trump is ready to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea later this month.

Bessent said at the CNBC event officials from both countries communicated every day to arrange the meeting, and Washington did not want to separate itself from the world's second-largest economy.

He said the trade conflict between the two countries was not heating up further thanks to the trust between Trump and Xi.

The two countries appear to be ready to get back involved in an all-out trade war last weekend, after China last week announced a massive expansion of its rare land export control.

Trump responded on Friday last week by threatening to raise the rate of Chinese goods to a three-digit level, which made the US-Chinese financial market and relations slump.

As reported by Reuters on Wednesday, October 15, Bessent and other officials have been trying to restore relations in a series of interviews this week.

On Wednesday, Bessent said China clearly intended to take action "from the start", rejecting Beijing's claim that the action was a response to US actions.

Bessent told CNBC a low-level Chinese trading official had threatened to "increase chaos" if the US continued implementing port fees for Chinese ships in August.

"There was a low-level trading official who was slightly sane here in August saying China would create chaos on the global system if the US continued implementing dock fees for Chinese ships," Bessent said.