In anticipated trade talks, Trump, Xi Jinping strike rare earths and tariff deal

The much-anticipated trade talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping yielded outcomes as part of efforts to ease a prolonged standoff involving the world’s two largest economies.

Both leaders met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea on Thursday.

They were meeting face-to-face for the first time since 2019.

Though the talks stopped short of a formal agreement, Trump said, “it was an amazing meeting,” and ranked the discussion a “12 out of 10”.

As a result, Trump said the US has lowered the overall tariff rate on Chinese goods from 57 percent to 47 percent after seeing progress with China.

He said Jinping had agreed to purchase “large amounts, tremendous amounts of the soybeans and other farm products” from the US, “starting immediately”.

On fentanyl-related tariffs, Trump said he believes the Chinese president is “going to work very hard to stop the death that’s coming in.”

The Trump administration has blamed China for “sustaining” the influx of fentanyl into the US.

The US president also said he discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine “very strongly” with Jinping, adding that they both agreed to work together “to see if we could get that war finished”.

Meanwhile, China agreed to suspend export control measures it had placed on its rare earths for a year, a move which had triggered a 100 percent tariff threat from Trump.

The Chinese foreign ministry said both sides “reached a consensus” on “important economic and trade issues”.

The progress points to a thawing of frosty relations between both countries.

Jinping acknowledged that there had been “twists and turns” in the countries’ bilateral relations, saying that they offer lessons for both sides.

He urged the US to “focus on the long-term benefits of cooperation rather than falling into a vicious cycle of retaliation”.

Trump said he would visit China early next year and invited Jinping to visit the US.

Scott Bessent, US treasury secretary, said a trade deal between both countries could be signed “as soon as next week”.