President Donald Trump described his face-to-face with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday as a roaring success, saying he would cut tariffs on China while Beijing agreed to allow the export of rare earth elements and start buying American soybeans.
The president told reporters aboard Air Force One that the US would lower tariffs implemented earlier this year as punishment on China for its selling of chemicals used to make fentanyl from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. That brings the total combined tariff rate on China down from 57 per cent to 47 per cent.
“I guess on the scale from 0 to 10, with ten being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12,” Trump said. “I think it was a 12.”
Trump said that he would go to China in April and Xi would come to the US “some time after that.” The president said they also discussed the export of more advanced computer chips to China, saying that Nvidia would be in talks with Chinese officials. Trump said he could sign a trade deal with China “pretty soon.”“We do not have too many major stumbling blocks,” Trump said.
Despite Trump’s optimism after a 100-minute meeting with Xi in South Korea, there continues to be the potential for major tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Both nations are seeking dominant places in manufacturing, developing emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, and shaping world affairs like Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs since returning to the White House for a second term, combined with China’s retaliatory restrictions on exports of rare-earth elements, gave the meeting newfound urgency. There is a mutual recognition that neither side wants to risk blowing up the world economy in ways that could jeopardise their own country’s fortunes.
When the two were seated at the start of the meeting, Xi read prepared remarks that stressed a willingness to work together despite differences. “Given our different national conditions, we do not always see eye to eye with each other,” he said through a translator. “It is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then.”
Markets unconvinced
Manila: World shares mostly retreated Thursday in choppy trading after President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. While Trump said the meeting was “amazing” and had resolved many issues, investors appeared sceptical. US futures were nearly flat.
In early European trading, Germany’s Dax rose 0.1 per cent to 24,155.02. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5 per cent to 9,705.49. In Paris, the CAC 40 slid 0.2 per cent to 8,183.55. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index bounced lower and then inched up less than 0.1 per cent to 51,325.61 after the Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged.
Chinese markets gave up early gains, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shedding 0.2 per cent to 26,282.69. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.7 per cent to 3,986.90. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Thursday cut its base rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent. It always follows the US lead in interest rate policies since the value of Hong Kong’s currency is linked to the US dollar.
Trump told reporters he was cutting average tariffs on Chinese goods to 47 per cent from 57 per cent, effective immediately after his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years.
