BUSAN, South Korea — President Donald Trump on Thursday mentioned he had “a tremendous assembly” with Chinese language chief Xi Jinping, showing to tamp down tensions that had been constructing for months.
“Zero, to 10, with 10 being the most effective, I’d say the assembly was a 12,” Trump informed reporters aboard Air Drive One, shortly after he left South Korea on his method again to Washington. “A variety of choices had been made … and we’ve come to a conclusion on very many vital factors.”
The settlement, in accordance with Trump, features a dedication from China to buy soybeans from American farmers, curb the circulation of fentanyl and postpone its export restrictions on uncommon earths, that are utilized in all the pieces from iPhones to navy tools.
“There is no such thing as a street block in any respect on uncommon earth,” Trump mentioned. “Hopefully, that may disappear from our vocabulary for a short while.”
Trump mentioned he meant to right away decrease tariffs on Chinese language exports to 47 % from 57 %.
The consequence pulls the 2 nations again from the brink and will induce a major sigh of reduction from capital markets all over the world.
Particulars stay sparse and there have been false begins and resets earlier than, however Trump mentioned he might signal an settlement “fairly quickly” and that few hindrances remained.
Trump additionally mentioned he plans to go to China in April and that Xi would journey to the US after that.
This was Trump and Xi’s first face-to-face assembly because the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan in June 2019, when the 2 international locations had been additionally in the course of a commerce warfare.
Thursday’s summit in South Korea adopted months of renewed tensions which have impeded commerce between the 2 international locations, regardless of a number of introduced truces.
Whereas Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on China — at one level as excessive as 145 % — and tightened export controls on high-tech items, Beijing has responded with its personal devastating strain marketing campaign.
That features decreasing purchases of American farm items, which fell by greater than 50 % within the first seven months of 2025. U.S. soybeans farmers, who exported a file $18 billion value of their crop to China in 2022, have been hit significantly, with simply $2.4 billion in shipments to China in January by way of July.
Beijing additionally imposed new export controls on uncommon earth supplies.
Earlier this month, China added 5 extra uncommon earth components to its management listing and, far more controversially, outlined a plan requiring overseas corporations that use even tiny quantities of Chinese language-sourced uncommon earths to acquire a license from Beijing to export their completed merchandise.
U.S. officers described that transfer as an insupportable try by China to manage international provide chains, and Trump threatened new one hundred pc tariffs to take impact on Nov. 1.
But it surely seems each side wished to keep away from that type of escalation. Throughout the weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer, after assembly with Chinese language Vice Premier He Lifeng in Malaysia, mentioned they believed Beijing was ready to delay its uncommon earth restrictions for a yr, make “substantial” purchases of American farm items and try and curb shipments of fentanyl precursor chemical compounds to the U.S.