Trump says US working with China to find new location to strike trade deal after APEC summit cancelled

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he still expects to sign an initial trade agreement with China in November, despite the cancellation of the APEC summit in Chile, where the two economic giants were supposed to meet.

“China and the USA are working on selecting a new site for signing of Phase One of Trade Agreement, about 60 percent of total deal, after APEC in Chile was canceled due to unrelated circumstances,” he said on Twitter.

Trump added that “the new location will be announced soon. President Xi and President Trump will do signing!”

On Wednesday, Chilean officials said they were cancelling the November 16-17 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to focus on restoring law and order in the country. It is the first time a country has pulled out of hosting the international conference at such short notice.

Trump had been planning to meet his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, at the summit, to discuss a possible trade deal.

Following the cancellation report, the White House said that, although a new location was yet to be found, the US still expected to sign an initial trade agreement with China next month.

“We look forward to finalizing Phase One of the historic trade deal with China within the same time frame,” the White House said.

China’s commerce ministry said on Thursday that the bilateral talks will continue to proceed as previously planned and that the lead trade negotiators from both countries would speak by telephone on Friday.

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