The secretary of the US Treasury says President Trump may call off his 100 percent tariff threat on China as negotiations continue.Plans for United States President Donald Trump to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea in late October remain intact, despite resurgent trade tensions between the two countries, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says.Speaking to Fox Business Network on Monday, Bessent said the US and China had “substantially de-escalated” after a series of tit-for-tat trade moves that threatened to strain relations and trigger a new trade war between Washington and Beijing.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe comments came after Trump, angered by China’s October 9 decision to expand export controls on key rare earth minerals, announced an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods set to take effect on November 1.But there have since been “substantial communications” between the two sides, with additional staff-level meetings expected this week, said Bessent.“The relationship, despite this announcement last week, is good. Lines of communication have reopened, so we’ll see where it goes,” said Bessent, adding that the “100 percent tariff does not have to happen” if the two sides work out their disagreements in negotiations.He added that he expected a planned meeting between Trump and Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in South Korea in late October to go ahead. “He [Trump] will be meeting with [Communist] Party Chair Xi in Korea,” said Bessent. “I believe that meeting will still be on.”Bessent stressed that Trump and Xi have “a very good relationship” and suggested that Beijing’s latest policy on rare earth elements could have originated from a lower-level official rather than Xi himself.The comments ec …
