Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
donald trump Welcome Xi Jinping Pair hailed as “great leaders” after an “amazing” meeting Agreement reached to extend the duration of tariff truce and roll back some export controls, which would put an end to one of the most consequential trade wars between The world’s two largest economies,
US President’s one-on-one conversation with his Chinese counterpart South Korean city BusanThe visit, his first since 2019, marks the culmination of a whirlwind Asia trip, during which he also highlighted trade successes with South Korea, Japan and South-East Asian countries.
The outcome of the meeting is being seen as a temporary truce as both sides offered short-term relief while unresolved core disputes over trade, industrial policy and global dominance.
The meeting between Xi and Trump on the sidelines of the APEC summit came months after the US leader began trade war With “Liberation Day” Tariffs announced on April 2,
At the outcome of the summit, Trump agreed to reduce US tariffs China 10 percent – from 57 percent to 47 percent – and less fentanyl-linked Tariff From 20 percent to 10 percent.
The overall agreement returns trade relations largely to their pre-liberation day status.
In return, the Chinese side agreed to resume soybean purchases and suspend ban on rare earth exports for one year.
Xi confirmed that the two sides had reached consensus to resolve “major trade issues” and compared US-China relations to a ship in the ocean.
The Chinese leader said the two countries should “stay on the right track” and “remain partners and friends.”
“The world is facing many difficult problems… China and the United States can jointly shoulder our responsibilities as leading countries and work together to achieve more great and concrete things for the good of our two countries and the entire world,” he said.
Sitting across the table from Trump, Xi said that while the two countries “don’t always see eye to eye”, “it’s normal for the world’s two largest economies to have friction from time to time”.
Xi said, “A few days ago… our two economic and trade teams reached basic consensus on addressing their respective major concerns and made encouraging progress. I am ready to continue working with you to build a solid foundation for China and the United States.”
Responding enthusiastically immediately after the meeting with Xi, Trump said: “I think, on a scale of zero to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was at a 12.
“You know, the whole relationship is very, very important. I think it was great.”
While businesses and markets have welcomed the relief in trade tensions, analysts say this is not a structural reset, but rather a strategic truce with a halt to immediate escalation, even though the root causes of tensions remain.
“Overall, it looks like a tactical pause rather than a strategic breakthrough,” says Tarek Horchani, head of prime brokerage dealing at Maybank Securities.
China’s security policy analyst Barbara Kellman told Independent The Trump-Xi meeting is currently a symbol of stability in US-China relations. However, it also demonstrates the existing limitations when it comes to the ability of the two countries to fully normalize their broader relations.
“The meeting focused entirely on economic cooperation between the two countries, perhaps a less challenging issue to cooperate on, and broader security and strategic issues such as Taiwan were left out.”
An analyst at security intelligence firm Dragonfly said this may be because the US administration recognizes that the two countries’ broader strategic objectives are ultimately in opposition to each other, and China remains America’s strategic rival in many areas.
Professor Burt Hoffman, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, said: Independent The ceasefire marks a significant pause in their trade tensions, reducing fears of global economic disruption.
Hoffman said, “It fundamentally involves both sides abstaining from extremely disruptive measures to the world economy, and it includes some goodwill measures that lay the groundwork for future negotiations. At the same time, the competitive aspects of the relationship have not changed, so establishing a framework for regular dialogue is just as important as the ceasefire.”
He said the suspension of rare earth and semiconductor export restrictions was an important outcome of the talks as both would have been very disruptive to the world economy.
“At the same time, both sides are now fully aware of how much leverage the other side has, and the strategy of technological independence for China, and rare earth production for the US and the West, will remain important. The fentanyl tariff cut was long overdue because there is little incentive to implement it. The economic importance is not that great in my view.”
The trade war between the US and China involved a series of threatened tariffs and export controls on each other’s products, with the potential to disrupt global supply chains and damage the world economy.
The latest tit-for-tat standoff came earlier this month as Trump Additional levy of 100 percent unveiled on China’s US-bound exports until November 1, in retaliation against China curbing its significant rare earth exports.
Peter Lu, global head of the China practice at a Chicago-based law firm, said the Trump-Xi meeting signals that despite tensions, both countries recognize the need to co-exist — a reality that global businesses must embrace.
“The ongoing negotiations between the US and China, though often challenging, reflect the reality that these two major economies are too interconnected to find a way to co-exist,” he said.
Market reaction was mixed after the meeting as the Chinese yuan retreated from its highest level in nearly a year against the dollar.
benchmark Shanghai composite index It hit its highest level since 2015 early in the session, but closed 0.73 percent lower, inches away from this week’s 10-year high. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.2 percent.
“In contrast to Mr Trump’s enthusiastic description of the meeting with Mr Xi as ’12 out of 10,’ the reaction from the market has been cautious,” said Bessa Deda, chief economist at consultancy firm William Buck in Sydney.
“There are still some structural issues that have been left unresolved, which may contribute to the market reaction and take some of the shine off the ceasefire.”
Analysts say Thursday’s meeting looked more like an attempt to reset the US-China narrative by selectively reopening trade channels to restore confidence, rather than a fundamental realignment of geopolitical relations.
“It’s hard to call this a clean risk,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo in Singapore. “Equity traders have seen this playbook before – upbeat tone, little follow-through.”
However, there are still plenty of holes left, with the Trump-Xi headlines having no timeline on rare earths, soybeans not being a big win if China’s crushers don’t need imports, and no mention of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips, he said.