US President Donald Trump said he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and hailed progress toward finalizing a deal over TikTok, after a highly anticipated call on Friday.
The in-person meeting would be the first between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies since the US president returned to office, and settles an extended back-and-forth between Washington and Beijing around the venue and timing. The APEC summit is slated to be held in South Korea next month.
“I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said he also planned to visit China in early 2026, with the Chinese leader in turn visiting the US “at an appropriate time.”
“The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!” Trump added.
It was unclear what progress the two leaders had made toward resolving the future of TikTok’s US operations. Ahead of the call Trump had said that he expected to finalize an agreement on the sale of the US operations of ByteDance Ltd.’s social video app.
A Chinese readout of the call struck a far more measured tone, with Xi urging Trump to avoid restrictive trade measures and to not undermine progress made in earlier talks aimed at easing tensions between their economies.
On TikTok, the readout said only that Xi told Trump that his government respects the wishes of businesses on TikTok and would like to see those companies find a resolution to the issue, according to the note from Beijing’s foreign ministry.
The Chinese side characterized the talks between the heads of the world’s biggest economies as positive and pragmatic, with Xi expressing confidence that Washington and Beijing could handle issues that arose between their countries. But it added that Xi also suggested that the US offer a fair environment for Chinese companies to do business, signaling discord over export restrictions and other trade barriers.
Friday’s high-stakes call was the first conversation between the leaders since June with the future of TikTok and a possible extension of an ongoing trade deal rolling back some tariffs and export controls high on the agenda. China and the US are also locked in a standoff over trade restrictions that have ensnared key industries such as semiconductors and rare earth minerals.
Tensions appeared to flare earlier this month when Trump bristled at Xi hosting foreign leaders for a major military parade in Beijing, with the US president on social media offering his “warmest regards” as “you conspire against The United States of America.” Trump also said Xi should have credited the US for “helping China to gain its freedom” during World War II.
Xi in their call told Trump that the Chinese people would not forget US support during World War II in the fight against Japan, according to the Chinese readout.
