Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on October 23 that President Trump will depart for Malaysia tonight, followed by visits to Japan and South Korea, where he will attend the APEC leaders’ summit. “President Trump will hold a bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping on the morning of October 30, before returning to the United States,” Leavitt said.
“I think we’ll achieve great results — everyone’s going to be very happy,” Trump later told reporters when asked about the upcoming meeting.
Beijing has yet to comment on the announcement. If confirmed, this would mark the first face-to-face meeting between U.S. and Chinese leaders since the G20 Summit in Japan in 2019. Trump had mentioned plans for a potential meeting weeks earlier, though the timing remained uncertain amid rising trade tensions.
The U.S. president recently announced an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports, set to take effect early next month. The move followed Beijing’s decision to tighten export controls on rare earth materials and related technologies used in electronics and defense industries.
While Trump has expressed optimism about reaching a new trade deal with China, his upbeat tone contrasts with the more cautious remarks of U.S. trade negotiators and finance officials accompanying him on the Asia trip.
Trump said one of the first issues he plans to raise with Xi will be fentanyl, accusing China of failing to curb the flow of precursor chemicals into the United States — a leading cause of overdose deaths there. Washington has cited the fentanyl issue as one justification for its new tariffs.
Beijing has repeatedly denied the accusations, saying Washington is using the fentanyl problem as leverage to pressure China.