Azernews.Az

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit set to take place in South Korea later this year, Azernews reports, citing Yonhap.

Trump made the remarks in a social media post shortly after he held phone talks with Xi, which he called "very productive."

"I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea," he wrote on Truth Social, referring to the multilateral gathering set to take place in Korea's southeastern city of Gyeongju from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1.

He added, "Both look forward to meeting at APEC!"

It remains unclear whether the agreed-upon meeting between Trump and Xi would be a formal summit or just an encounter on the margins of the APEC summit. If it takes place as planned, it will mark their first in-person meeting since they met during the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019.

The envisioned meeting between the leaders of the two superpowers is expected to draw keen international attention to the APEC summit venue in Korea, as their sit-down, depending on its outcome, could have broad implications for global trade, security and other areas.

South Korea's preparations for the APEC summit come as President Lee Jae Myung's administration seeks to strengthen the bilateral alliance with the United States and maintain stable relations with China under his "pragmatic" foreign policy approach.

In the social media post, Trump also said he and Xi agreed that he would go to China in the early part of next year, and that Xi would come to the U.S. "at an appropriate time."

Trump made his last presidential trip to China during his first term in November 2017. Xi visited Florida to meet Trump in April 2017.

Touching on the discussions during the call, Trump said that the two sides made "progress" on "many very important issues," including the fate of the short video platform TikTok; trade; the need to end the war between Russia and Ukraine; and the fentanyl issue.

"The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval," he said without elaborating further.

Last year, Congress passed a law that would ban TikTok's service in the U.S. unless Chinese company ByteDance, which owns the social media platform, gives up its control. The law came amid U.S. concerns over potential user data collection and other security risks.

Given that the app has some 170 million users in the U.S., Trump has delayed the enforcement of the TikTok ban, as his administration engages in negotiations over the fate of the platform.

Following a recent round of trade talks with China in Madrid, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that Washington has reached a "framework" for a deal with Beijing on the TikTok issue.

China's Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi pointed out Beijing's "clear" position on the TikTok issue, adding that it "respects the wishes of the company, and is glad to see business negotiations in line with market rules and a solution that conforms to Chinese laws and regulations and takes into account the interests of both sides."

On trade, Xi said that the U.S. should avoid taking "unilateral" trade restrictions to prevent undermining the achievements made by both sides through multiple rounds of consultations, according to Xinhua.

The news agency said that the conversation between the leaders was "pragmatic, positive and constructive."