U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said U.S. President Donald Trump is still expecting to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) summit in Gyeongju later this month.

Bessent told a news conference on Wednesday that as of the previous night, when he'd last seen the president, the meeting with Xi in South Korea was still on.

Last Friday, Trump said “there seems to be no reason” to meet with the Chinese leader while threatening to impose an additional 100 percent tariff on imports from China starting November 1, in response to Beijing’s recent crackdown on shipments of rare earth metals.

The U.S. president later appeared to backtrack, saying he might meet Xi and that he intends to attend the APEC event regardless.

Though some see Trump’s latest remarks as a strategic move to increase his bargaining power at the negotiating table, ongoing Sino-U.S. trade tensions have also cast doubt on the upcoming plans.