Bessent: Trump on Track to Meet Xi in South Korea

President Donald Trump was on track to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea as the two sides de-escalate tensions over trade disputes, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday.

The latest flare-up in U.S.-China trade talks began on Thursday when China dramatically expanded its rare earths export controls, drawing a sharp countermeasure from Trump on Friday.

Bessent said there were substantial communications between the two sides over the weekend.

"We have substantially de-escalated," Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

"President Trump said that the tariffs would not go into effect until Nov. 1. He will be meeting with Party Chair Xi in Korea. I believe that meeting will still be on."

There will be lots of staff-level meetings this week in Washington on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Washington, he said.

The United States expects support from allies including Europeans, India and democracies in Asia, he said on the "Mornings with Maria" program.

"China is a command and control economy. They are neither going to command nor control us," Bessent said.