Trump-Xi meeting: Trump expects a trade deal to be signed on Thursday, calls Xi a ‘very tough negotiator’
The meeting lasted for about one hour and 40 minutes
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had their first meeting in six years on Thursday (Oct 30), as they sought a possible trade-war truce between the world’s two largest economies.
As the meeting kicked off in the South Korean city of Busan, Trump said he expected a deal to be signed on the day.
“We are going to have a very successful meeting, I have no doubt. But he is a very tough negotiator,” Trump said as he shook hands with Xi, who showed little expression.
Xi, via a translator, said that the trade teams have reached a “basic consensus”.
The Chinese president told Trump it was normal for the two leading economies of the world to have friction now and then.
“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-US relations,” Xi said.
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While the two countries did not always see eye to eye, they should strive to be “partners and friends”, he added
“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,” the Chinese president said.
Sitting opposite each other, each leader was flanked by senior officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury chief Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Xi’s team included Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Vice-Premier He Lifeng.
Tit-for-tat
China’s Shanghai Composite climbed to a 10-year high as the meeting kicked off. It lasted for about one hour 40 minutes before both Xi and Trump departed the venue in limousines.
The latest tit-for-tat escalations erupted earlier this month as Trump unveiled additional levies of 100 per cent on China’s US-bound exports, along with new export controls on critical software by Nov 1, in a reprisal against China curbing its critical rare earth exports.
The Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday that the leaders would have “in-depth communication on strategic and long-term issues concerning China-US relations, as well as major issues of mutual concern”.
Xi and Trump are expected to hammer out the details of a framework agreement, negotiated over the weekend in Malaysia, that would see the Chinese pause a rare-earths licensing regime for at least a year and resume soybean purchases in exchange for lower US tariffs.
The outcome is poised to resolve, at least for now, months of trade brinkmanship in which the world’s two largest economies have threatened a series of levies and export controls on their products.
Still, it’s likely to fall short of a fulsome agreement that addresses issues at the heart of the US-China economic competition.
Details of the framework deal have trickled out in the days since the Malaysian summit, and suggest Xi may have won important tariff relief in exchange for temporary concessions.
Trump on Wednesday predicted that he would reduce the 20 per cent tariff he placed on Chinese goods over exports of fentanyl precursor chemicals, suggesting Beijing may be able to secure a rate of duty on many goods that keeps the country competitive with other regional manufacturing rivals.
That reduction would come in addition to the US scrapping plans for a 100 per cent tariff Trump had threatened to implement on Nov 1, as well as export controls on a broad swath of critical software.
The Trump administration is expected to roll back levies and fees hitting Chinese ships. The president has also hinted he could abandon a probe into whether China was abiding by a broader trade deal from his first term.
Major concession
The Chinese are also planning to push for Washington to roll back a rule that exposes subsidiaries that are at least 50 per cent-owned by blacklisted firms to the same curbs as their sanctioned parent. The regulations have placed due diligence burdens on exporters.
Trump on Wednesday also suggested he would be willing to discuss access to Nvidia flagship Blackwell AI processor, which would represent a major concession that may anger national-security hawks in Washington.
The major concession from the Chinese side is a promise to delay an expanded rare-earths licensing regime for at least a year, with a pledge to reevaluate the programme during that period.
Beijing has used the restrictions as a cudgel in the trade talks, threatening to restrict access for US and allied manufacturers to critical minerals necessary for high-tech manufacturing of smartphones, jet engines and other widely used products.
China is also resuming soybean purchases, with the country booking shipments for at least two cargoes of the American crop, its first known purchase this season, according to people familiar with the matter. That provides a political victory for Trump, who has seen farmers in his political base suffer as they have been unable to offload an agricultural glut.
Xi is also expected to approve the sale of the US operations of ByteDance’s TikTok social video app to a consortium put together by the Trump administration.
Trump has credited the app with boosting his appeal with young voters and helping return him to the White House.
The US president is also expected to pressure Xi to curtail support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, with US officials describing plans to discuss a global peace accord.
Washington may ask Beijing to curtail the sale of so-called dual use items. Trump highlighted recently a drop in Chinese purchases of Russian oil that followed US sanctions on Russian firms.
But few expect serious intervention from the Chinese, who have sidled closer to Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine.
Trump, for his part, signalled a determination ahead of the meeting to take the issue of Taiwan off the table, even after saying recently that for Xi, the self-governing island is the “apple of his eye”.
China has sought an official US declaration that it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, rather than simply saying American officials “do not support” such a move.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit of 21 countries in Gyeongju including the leaders of Japan, Australia and Canada.
It is the final stop on an Asia tour that saw Trump showered with praise and gifts, including a replica of an ancient Korean golden crown. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS, AFP
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