Five Key Takeaways from Donald Trump’s Meeting with Xi Jinping

Warren Takunda

Summary:

From tariffs to rare earths, Chinese and US presidents ‘make outstanding group of decisions’ at crunch trade talks

As Donald Trump flew out of Busan airport in South Korea after his meeting with China’s Xi Jinping, the US president sounded upbeat about progress made during less than two hours of talks.

Trump discussed the outcome of the meeting, which he described as a 12 on a scale of one to 10, with “an outstanding group of decisions made”. He added: “We’ve come to a conclusion on many important points.”

A Chinese statement quoted Xi saying the two countries had “good prospects for cooperation”, and relations had maintained “overall stability” under his and Trump’s guidance.

Xi told the meeting that the two countries’ trade negotiation teams had “reached a basic consensus on addressing our respective major concerns” when they met last weekend. “Both sides should take a long-term view and focus on the benefits of cooperation, rather than falling into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation,” he said.

1. Rare earths is ‘settled’

Perhaps the most globally crucial topic was China’s recently announced ban on rare-earth exports if there was any chance of the products having dual use for foreign militaries or some semiconductor sectors. China controls nearly all the mining and processing of rare earths, and the ban sent nations scrambling.

But Trump said he discussed it with Xi and “they’re gonna keep those flowing”, under a one-year agreement on supply which Trump expected to be extended annually. “All of the rare earth has been settled,” he said. “That roadblock is gone now, there’s no roadblock at all on rare earths.”

The Chinese statement did not mention rare earths specifically, but the commerce ministry later said the country would suspend the export controls announced on 9 October (the day the rare earths ban was revealed) in return for the US pausing 50% penetration rules on export controls.

2. Tariffs eased slightly by ‘real action’ on fentanyl

On fentanyl, Trump said Xi was going to “work very hard to stop the flow” of precursor chemicals that the US said were being used to make the highly addictive and dangerous drug that was sweeping through the US. “I think you’ll see some real action taken,” he said.

The US had put a 20% tariff on Chinese products specifically to put pressure on Beijing over fentanyl. Today Trump says he has immediately reduced it to 10%, based on Xi’s statements on Thursday.

China’s commerce ministry confirmed the suspension of the fentanyl tariffs, among others, and said it would adjust its own countermeasures accordingly.

One issue that appeared to be unresolved was the status of the “phase one” trade deal that was agreed in Trump’s first term. Last week, the US said that it was investigating China for not following through with the commitment to increase purchases of US goods and services by $200bn annually.

3. Trump is going to Beijing and Xi might in turn visit ... Florida

The US president told reporters he would go to China in April, in a long-expected trip. He was less specific about a reciprocal visit by Xi to the US, saying only that his Chinese counterpart “will be coming here some time after that. Whether it’s in Florida, Palm Beach or Washington DC”.

China said Trump “looks forward to visiting” early next year, but only acknowledged that he had invited Xi to visit the US.

4. Chip sales but not the Blackwell

On chips, Trump said he and Xi discussed China buying US chips from Nvidia, but said that was up to them and the US was more of an “arbitrator or referee”. When asked if he was going to allow Nvidia’s new Blackwell AI chip to be sold to China, Trump said no. “We’re not talking about the Blackwell … But a lot of chips, you know, a lot of the chips. And that’s good for us.”

The Blackwell B30A chip is a new product by Nvidia, to replace the H20, a deliberately throttled-back chip designed for the Chinese market so it would not trigger US restrictions. The Blackwell B30A is also deliberately limited but is more powerful than the H20, and critics from both sides of US politics have expressed concern at the prospect of allowing China to buy it.

5. A lot of Ukraine but not much Taiwan

Trump said the war in Ukraine “came up very strongly” as an issue and that he and Xi had agreed to work together to make progress. “We talked about it for a long time, and we’re both going to work together to see if we can get something,” he said.

However, he also said: “The two sides are locked in fighting, and sometimes you’ve got to let them fight I guess. Crazy.”

He acknowledged China was a big buyer of Russian oil but added that the topic was not discussed. The Chinese summary of the talks noted that Trump was “very enthusiastic about settling various regional hotspot issues”, and that China had also been promoting peace talks on various conflicts.

“The world today is confronted with many tough problems,” Xi said. “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.”

Meanwhile, Taiwan “never came up” in the meeting, Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One. “That was not discussed actually.”

The annexation of Taiwan as a Chinese province is a primary aim for Xi, and he is preparing the military to take the island by force if necessary. Such an event would have global ramifications.

The US is Taiwan’s most important supporter in its resistance to China’s threats, but Trump’s inconsistent position on that decades-long support has fuelled apprehension about what would happen if Xi asked Trump for US concessions.

Source: Theguardian

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