The meeting between Trump and Xi was the first in six years – and according to Trump it was a success. Among other things, they are reported to have reached an agreement on rare earth metals and agreed on the trade issue. The US is also reducing its tariffs on Chinese goods from 57 to 47 percent.
The meeting, held in a small gray building on a military base in Busan, South Korea, lasted more than an hour and a half, longer than expected. Shortly afterward, on the plane home, Trump announced that he would travel to China in April and that Xi would come to the United States "sometime after that."
On a scale of one to ten, the meeting was a twelve, Trump says, calling Xi "a great leader."
Didn't talk Russian oil
Among the topics of conversation was the Ukraine war, according to the American president.
We talked about it for a long time, he says, stating that Xi "will help us."
We will work together to see if we can get something done.
However, Xi and Trump reportedly did not discuss China's purchase of Russian oil, CNN reports. According to AFP, the sensitive issue of Taiwan was also not raised.
While Trump has gone home, Xi remains in South Korea to participate in a summit within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec).
Money laundering and AI
In comments published in state-run Chinese media, Xi said China and the United States had “reached consensus” on resolving major trade issues. The countries have “promising prospects” for cooperation in online fraud, money laundering, AI and handling illegal migrants, Xi said after the meeting, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Both teams can continue the talks in a spirit of equality, mutual respect and reciprocity – and reduce the list of disputes while expanding the list of cooperation, he says.
In addition to the two presidents, six other representatives from each country attended the meeting, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Ahead of the meeting, trade talks have been ongoing between the US and China. The countries' relationship has recently been shaky, to say the least, due to Trump's tariffs and China's response.
