US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said today that US President Donald Trump has planned “one-on-one meeting” with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on her sidelines Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, amid the trade standoff between Washington and Beijing.

At the same time, Besent told Fox Business Network that he was leaving for Malaysia where he will meet with the Chinese vice president He Lifeng to settle the row over Beijing’s restrictions on rare earth exports and possible US countermeasures ahead of the APEC summit (October 31-November 1).

According to the US Treasury Secretary, Mr Donald Trump and the Xi Jinping maintain regular communication and “it would be a shame for them to waste their first tete-a-tete in President Trump’s second term trying to overcome some problems instead of moving on to a more constructive dialogue between the US and China.”

Focus on trade, nuclear weapons and the war in Ukraine

The Chinese president could exercise “great influence” to Vladimir Putin for the Russian president to end the war in Ukraine, Donald Trump said Wednesday, a week before the meeting he plans to hold in South Korea with Xi Jinping.

“I think he can have a lot of influence on Putin”the Republican told reporters during his meeting with North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House.

“I think it can have an impact”he insisted, adding “we will definitely talk about Russia and Ukraine” with Mr. Xi.

Fill in as you want bilateral agreement on trade with the Chinese president and that he will raise concerns about Beijing’s purchase of Russian oil.

“I think we’ll make a deal”he predicted, also saying he wants China to resume buying soybeans from the US, amid his threats of prohibitive tariffs on Chinese products.

Mr. Trump also assured that he considers a deal on nuclear weapons possible, explaining that the Russian president is proposing a de-escalation in the field of nuclear weapons and that China could be added to such a framework — although Beijing has repeatedly ruled out any such possibility.