Washington DC - US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Saturday at the APEC summit in Peru, in what will likely be their last encounter before Donald Trump returns to the White House, US officials said.

The meeting will be the third between the leaders of the world's two biggest economies and their second since a major ice-breaking set of talks in California a year ago.

"We expect this will be their last meeting as presidents," a senior US administration official told reporters on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.

"With that in mind, we expect the president will use the opportunity to take stock of efforts to responsibly manage competition."

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Trump has already signaled a confrontational approach with Beijing for his second term, picking a number of outspoken China hawks for key foreign and defense positions in his top team.

The Republican has also promised to slap 60% tariffs on Chinese imports, leading to fears of a renewed trade war.

The Biden administration official would not be drawn on whether he would try to advise China on how to deal with Trump – or if he would advise Trump on how to deal with China.

"This is a difficult, complicated, consequential relationship," the official said. "The president has been pretty clear that he even admits the competitive aspects of the relationship, we need to find ways to manage it responsibly."

Biden heads to Lima on Thursday for the APEC summit on Friday and Saturday for his swansong at the major gathering of Asia-Pacific economies.

He will then become the first US president to visit the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, before traveling to Rio de Janeiro for his final summit of the G20 countries.