"We're going to meet in a couple of weeks. We're going to meet in South Korea, actually with the President Xi and other people, too," Trump said in an interview with Fox News show "Sunday Morning Futures."

"We have a separate meeting," he added.

The APEC summit will take place October 31 - November 1 in the South Korean city of Gyeongju.

Trump had threatened to scrap the meeting as he raised the stakes in his trade war with China, warning that he would impose 100 percent tariffs on goods from the world's second-biggest economy.

He issued the tariff threat in response to what he called "extraordinarily aggressive" new Chinese export curbs on rare-earth minerals.

Stock markets slid on the announcement and Trump then struck a conciliatory tone, saying in a social media post "The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!"

The meeting would be the first encounter between the leaders since Trump returned to power in January.