Donald Trump's baffling response to whether Xi meeting is cancelled

President Donald Trump on Friday said "there seems to be no reason" to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his upcoming trip to South Korea, following China's recent restriction of vital rare earth exports to America.

Trump fielded questions from reporters as part of an afternoon announcement in the White House, during which one asked about his planned rendezvous with Jinping. "No, I haven't cancelled it," Trump replied. "I don't know if we're going to have it but I'm going to be there so we might have it."

His statement came as he announced an additional "massive" 100% tax on Chinese imports in November or sooner, an escalation of tariff rates nearly matching levels in April that stoked fears of a global recession. While Trump appeared to express conviction in his retort to China's move, he is famously known for backing down from threats.

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"One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America," he posted on Truth Social. "There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration."

The announcement came after financial markets closed on Friday and risked throwing the global economy into turmoil. Not only could the global trade war instigated by Trump be rekindled, but import taxes being heaped on top of the 30% already being levied on Chinese goods could, by the administration's past statements, cause trade to break down between the U.S. and China in ways that could cause growth worldwide to slump, according to The Associated Press.

The prospect of tariffs this large could compound the president's own political worries inside the U.S., potentially pushing up inflation at a moment when the job market appears fragile and the drags from a government shutdown are starting to compound into layoffs of federal workers.

The president also said that the U.S. government would respond to China by putting its own export controls "on any and all critical software" from American firms.

The United States and China have been jostling for advantage in trade talks, after the import taxes announced earlier this year triggered a trade war between the world's two largest economies. Both nations agreed to ratchet down tariffs after negotiations in Switzerland and the United Kingdom, yet tensions remain as China has continued to restrict America's access to the difficult-to-mine rare earths needed for a wide array of U.S. technologies.

Trump did not formally cancel the meeting with Xi, so much as indicating that it might not happen as part of a trip at the end of the month in Asia. The trip was scheduled to include a stop in Malaysia, which is hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit; a stop in Japan; and a visit to South Korea, where he was slated to meet with Xi ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

"I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so," Trump posted.

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The announcement came just hours after Trump had what he has described as a "semiannual physical" at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described it as a "routine yearly checkup," although Trump had his annual physical in April.

Trump left the White House around 10:45 a.m. on Friday and returned to the grounds at 2:15 p.m., which was slightly ahead of schedule. He did not answer questions from reporters upon his arrival, and the White House has not indicated when it would release results or more information about his exams.

The White House declined to explain why Trump was getting a yearly checkup at Walter Reed, which is in Bethesda, Maryland, six months after his annual exam. In an exchange with reporters on Thursday, the Republican president said it was a "semiannual physical."