Despite Xi Jinping promising retaliatory measures against Washington if US President Donald Trump does good on his threat to impose new 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did not rule out a meeting between the two leaders.

Bessent revealed that President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are maintaining plans to meet this month, despite the recent increase in trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.

"I think the meeting will still happen," Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business, referring to the summit planned during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in South Korea later this month.

The secretary's comments come a day after Trump lowered the tone with China, after threatening to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese products and more technology controls in response to China's latest measures, which included new restrictions on the export of rare earths.

On Sunday, the president lowered his tone, saying on the social network Truth that "everything will be fine" with China and that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, has just gone through "a bad time" and that the United States wants to "help China, not to harm it."

For its part, Beijing blames Washington for this latest escalation, and asserts that it is the US that has derailed trade talks with measures such as the recent imposition of special port tariffs on Chinese ships, which was announced just weeks after the two sides held a round of negotiations in Madrid last September.

The rapid escalation of trade tensions between the world's two largest economies has sent markets tumbling, shaking investors and industries by rekindling fears of a new tariff war like the one that occurred in the spring, when levies on Chinese and US imports rose to around 145% and 120%, respectively.