U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held high-level talks in South Korea on Thursday, aimed at easing months of rising trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Both leaders described the discussions as constructive, covering topics such as tariffs, agricultural trade, and joint efforts on reducing fentanyl exports—issues that have strained relations since the start of the year.
Trump declared that he had reached an agreement to reduce tariffs on Chinese goods from 57% to 47% in return for Beijing resuming U.S. soybean purchases, maintaining exports of rare earths, and cracking down on the illegal trade of fentanyl. He also confirmed that fentanyl-related tariffs on China would be lowered to 10%.
He added that there would be a renewable one-year agreement on the supply of critical rare earths, with terms set to be renegotiated annually.
According to Chinese state media, President Xi Jinping stated that China and the U.S. had reached a mutual understanding on trade and economic matters. Trump further claimed that the trade dispute between the two nations had been resolved, although China did not immediately issue a formal response regarding the meeting or its outcomes
“The economic and trade teams of the two countries exchanged in-depth views on important economic and trade issues and reached a consensus on resolving them,” Xi said.
Trump described his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping as a ‘great success’ and announced plans to visit China in April for further negotiations. He also stated that China had committed to buying ‘tremendous’ quantities of American soybeans, adding that purchases would begin immediately, though he did not specify the exact volumes.
U.S. trade with China exceeded $12 billion last year, but reduced purchases from Beijing have taken a toll on American farmers and strengthened China’s negotiating position in trade discussions. Ahead of the summit, China showed signs of initiating its first purchases of U.S. goods for the current season.
The meeting, held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, lasted close to two hours. Coming after months of escalating trade tensions, the talks could signal a potential turning point in efforts to stabilize U.S.-China economic relations. Trump rated his meeting with Xi a ’12 out of 10,’ suggesting optimism about the prospects for renewed ties.
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