The meeting, the first between the pair during Trump’s second term, would happen on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO summit, where Trump is expected to deliver an address.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that a trade deal with South Korea was unlikely to be finalised during President Donald Trump's visit.

“I would expect that the threat of the 100% has gone away,” he said, adding that Beijing had also stepped back from its own threat of a global export control regime on rare earths.