Donald Trump has described crucial trade talks with the Chinese president in South Korea as “amazing”, saying their dispute over the supply of rare earths had been settled and that he would visit China in April.
Xi Jinping has not commented on Thursday’s discussions but noted that the economic and trade teams from both countries had “reached a basic consensus on addressing our respective major concerns” during recent talks in Kuala Lumpur, according to Chinese state media. That had “provided the necessary conditions” for their meeting on Thursday, he added.
According to China’s commerce ministry, the agreement reached in Kuala Lumpur included a 10% reduction in Trump’s so-called “fentanyl tariff” imposed on Chinese goods, along with reciprocal measures by Beijing to suspend export controls.
After their meeting, the two shook hands and Trump immediately boarded Air Force One to return to Washington. He later told reporters the Chinese leader had agreed to work “very hard” to prevent the production of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid drug that has caused a surge of deaths among Americans. In return, Trump said he would lower fentanyl-linked tariffs from 20% to 10%, thereby lowering overall tariffs from 57% to 47%.
Trump had suggested their discussions in the city of Busan could last three or four hours but the men parted after an hour and 40 minutes, with Xi preparing to attend the Apec leadership summit, which begins on Friday in nearby Gyeongju. Nevertheless, Trump described the meeting as a 12 on a scale of one to 10.
The US president said China would end its restrictions on rare earth exports and buy American soya beans. The rare earths agreement would last one year and be negotiated annually in the expectation that it would be renewed, he said.
China bought its first cargoes of US soya beans in several months, Reuters reported the day before the talks.
“All of the rare earth has been settled,” Trump said. “And that’s for the world, worldwide, you could say this was a worldwide situation, not just a US situation. There is no roadblock at all on rare earth. That will hopefully disappear from our vocabulary for a little while.”
The US president said they had agreed to work together on Ukraine, adding that the war “came up very strongly” as an issue. “We talked about it for a long time, and we’re both going to work together to see if we can get something,” he said. He acknowledged China buys a lot of Russian oil but added that topic was not really discussed.
Another issue that was not discussed was Taiwan. Earlier, both men ignored a question about the self-governing democracy, amid concern in Taipei that Trump may be willing to make concessions to Xi who has vowed to “reunify” it with the mainland.
Shortly before the talks with Xi – their first face-to-face meeting in six years – Trump predicted he would have a “successful meeting” as the two men began the highly anticipated trade talks.
Speaking to the media at the start of their meeting at Gimhae airbase, Trump said: “We’re going to have a very successful meeting.” But he added: “He’s tough negotiator – that’s not good,” before patting the Chinese leader on the back.
Likening the US-China relationship to an ocean-going vessel, Xi said the countries should “stay on the right course” and “be partners and friends”.
He added: “The world is confronted by many tough problems … China and the US can jointly shoulder our responsibility as major countries and work together to accomplish more great and concrete things for the good of our two countries and the whole world.”
As they and their delegations sat opposite each other at the negotiating table, Xi noted that he and Trump had not met for several years – their last summit was in 2019 – but had spoken on the phone and exchanged letters since Trump returned to the White House.
Xi said that he and Trump “don’t always see eye to eye with each other”, adding that it was “normal for world’s two biggest economies to have frictions now and then”.
He added: “A few days ago … our two economic and trade teams reached basic consensus on addressing our respective major concerns and made encouraging progress. I am ready to continue working with you to build a solid foundation for China and the US.”
The optimism in Busan was in stark contrast to the recent exchanges of aggressive rhetoric over trade that had threatened to set the US and Chinese on an economic collision course, with potentially disastrous consequences for the global economy.
The trade war reignited this month after Beijing proposed to dramatically expand its curbs on exports of rare earth minerals, vital components in the manufacture of everything from smartphones to fighter jets.
In response, Trump vowed to retaliate with additional 100% tariffs on Chinese exports, and with other steps including potential curbs on exports to China that are made with US software.
Trump hinted this week he would reduce US tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for a commitment by Beijing to stem the flow of ingredients needed to make fentanyl.
Minutes before meeting Xi, Trump said in a social media post that he had ordered the Pentagon to start nuclear weapons testing on a level with China and Russia. But he did not respond to a reporter’s question about the decision as he and Xi began their summit.
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that specifically referenced Russia and China.
Additional reporting by Helen Davidson in Taipei and Lillian Yang
