WASHINGTON, October 11. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump said that he did not refuse to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea at the upcoming APEC summit, but is not sure if the meeting will take place.
"I haven’t canceled, but I don’t know that we’re going to have it. But I’m going to be there regardless, so I would assume we might have it," the American leader told reporters, when asked whether the meeting had been cancelled.
"It was just that was out of the blue, right out of the blue. They came up with this whole import export concept. And nobody, nobody knew anything about it."
The Chinese government has previously extended export controls to several categories of equipment and raw materials used for the production of rare earth metals.
Trump earlier on Friday questioned the need for a planned face-to-face meeting with Xi because Beijing’s measures render it pointless.
Trump confirmed on October 7 that he expects to hold talks with Xi in the Republic of Korea as part of the APEC summit scheduled for late October - early November.
