Trump-Xi Meet: US to Lower Tariffs on China, Beijing to Keep up Rare Earths Supply

New Delhi: US president Donald Trump said on October 30 that his meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping was a "great success" and claimed that the US would reduce tariffs on China from 57% to 47%.

Beijing would, in exchange, keep its supply of rare earth exports uninterrupted, Trump said. Trump added that China would also buy "tremendous amounts" of US soybean and crack down on fentanyl trafficking. This agreement is to stay in force for at least one year.

China state media Xinhua News Agency's published readout on Xi's comments have it that both sides had reached a consensus to resolve "major trade issues".

Xi acknowledged the "frictions" between the two countries while adding that China’s development "goes hand in hand with your vision to make America great again".

"Mr. President [Trump], I’m ready to continue working with you to build a solid foundation for China US relations, and create a sound atmosphere for the development of both countries," he said.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump wrote on Truth Social, "The G2 will be convening shortly".

The two-hour meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Busan, South Korea marked the first in-person meeting between Xi and Trump since 2019.

Trump called Xi a "tremendous leader of a very powerful country" and said several issues were "brought to finalisation" at the meeting.

"It was an outstanding meeting with a lot of important decisions made. There wasn’t much left unresolved. We came to conclusions on many significant issues, and we’ll be handing those over shortly," Trump said.

Regarding buying agricultural products, he said, "Large quantities of soybeans and other agricultural products are going to be purchased immediately – starting right away. If you noticed, President Xi authorised yesterday for China to begin buying very large quantities of soybeans and other goods. I appreciated that – it was a very nice gesture."

On the fentanyl issue, he added, "We also discussed fentanyl. We agreed that he’s going to work very hard to stop the flow. It’s a complex subject, because fentanyl is used for different reasons — including medical anesthetics — but he’s committed to cracking down on the precursor chemicals."

"As you know, I put a 20% tariff on China because of the fentanyl issue. That’s a big tariff. Based on his statements today, I’ve reduced it by 10%, so it’s now 10% instead of 20%, effective immediately," he noted.

The US president also added that the two leaders would be visiting each other's countries. "I'll be going to China in April, and he'll be coming here sometime after that, whether it's in Florida, Palm Beach or Washington, DC," Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

Hours before this meeting with Xi, Trump announced that he has authorised the Pentagon to immediately resume the testing of nuclear weapons – 33 years after the United States conducted its last test.

When asked why he posted that, Trump said, "It had to do with others — they’re all testing nuclear weapons. We have [conducted tests] more than anyone, but we stopped testing years ago. If others are testing, I think it’s appropriate that we do, too. The details will be announced later."

With inputs from DW. 

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