US President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping are set to meet for the first time since Trump took office. This meeting is highly anticipated and will take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan, South Korea. The main goal of the summit is to keep the fragile trade truce between the two biggest economies in the world.
The meeting is planned to start at 11 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) and is likely to be the last stop on Trump’s whirlwind tour of Asia.
Important Things to Talk About in Negotiations
The meeting became more important once the trade war started up again this month. This was because Beijing suggested that it would greatly increase restrictions on the export of rare-earth minerals, which are important for high-tech uses and are a sector where China is the leader. Trump had promised to hit back by raising taxes on Chinese goods by another 100%.
Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, said that a “substantial framework” is likely to be agreed upon, with a few important compromises:
The US thinks that Beijing will put off the rare earth limitations for a year.
Trump stated that he thinks he can lower the 20% tariffs the U.S. presently has on Chinese imports in exchange for China’s promise to stop sending ingredients that are used to produce the deadly synthetic drug fentanyl.
Soybeans: China is likely to start buying U.S. soybeans again, which will be a big help for American farmers. Reports on Wednesday said that China had already bought its first shipments of U.S. soybeans in months before the summit.
Deals on retaliatory tariffs and rare-earth imports that were made before will end on November 10, which puts further pressure on the parties to reach a compromise.
Trust and Competition
Even though analysts have called the situation a “new Cold War,” both leaders have said they are cautiously hopeful that they may strike an agreement.
Trump’s Optimism: Trump has said several times that he thinks he can make a deal with Xi. He wrote on Truth Social just before landing in Busan, “THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY,” which was a reference to the two countries’ economic power.
China’s Response: Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said that Beijing is ready to work together for “positive results.”
The two presidents are also anticipated to talk about other difficult problems than trade, such as:
Trump has said that he might sign a final deal with Xi about TikTok, which could be banned in the US unless its Chinese owners sell off its US operations.
Taiwan: The meeting takes place against a backdrop of rising tensions in the region over Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and is a vital US partner.
Nuclear Testing: Trump claimed in a different post before the meeting that the U.S. would start testing nuclear weapons more often right away, pointing out that China’s stockpile is rising.
The White House is hinting that this meeting between Trump and Xi may be the first of many over the next year. This means that the negotiations will take a long time, even though there is a strong push for a truce right now.