US and China “break the ice” of trade tensions with rare earth agreement

US President Donald Trump said on October 30 that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had reached a deal to reduce tariffs on China in exchange for the country resuming purchases of US soybeans, delaying plans to tighten controls on rare earth exports for at least a year and cracking down on illegal fentanyl trafficking.

The meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping lasted nearly two hours in Busan (South Korea), on the sidelines of the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2025 Summit.

After the meeting, US President Donald Trump said he would reduce tariffs on Chinese goods from 57% to 47%, including a reduction in tariffs on fentanyl from 20% to 10%. In return, China would resume purchases of US soybeans, postpone plans to tighten controls on rare earth exports for at least a year, and step up its crackdown on illegal fentanyl trafficking. In addition, the US President announced he would visit China in April next year.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Mr. Trump said he discussed selling Nvidia chips to China with Mr. Xi Jinping.

Meanwhile, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also mentioned that the US will postpone the investigation into China's shipbuilding industry, which has been a point of contention in trade negotiations between the two sides.

President Trump ended his speech by calling his meeting with President Xi Jinping a great success.

Mr. Trump's remarks after his first face-to-face meeting since 2019 with President Xi Jinping marked the end of the US President's tour of Asia.

Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping declared his willingness to continue to cooperate with President Trump to build a solid foundation for China-US relations and create a favorable environment for the development of the two countries. At the meeting, Mr. Xi Jinping emphasized that China and the US should be partners and friends, and said that the two sides' trade negotiation delegations "have reached a basic consensus."

Before the talks began, Asian markets were mostly positive on hopes that trade tensions between the world's two largest economies would ease. After the meeting ended, the market's gains slowed somewhat, with the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo (Japan) falling 0.49% to 51,071.92 points after rising more than 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite index of Shanghai fell 0.8% after having previously hit its highest level since 2015 earlier in the session. Hong Kong (China)'s Hang Seng index also fell 0.68%.

Mr. Homin Lee, a macro strategist at Lombard Odier Bank in Singapore, said that Mr. Trump’s confirmation of bilateral agreements on fentanyl tariffs, rare earths and chip export controls, as well as Chinese soybean purchases, would support market sentiment, although these were already signaled during the US-China talks in Malaysia. Mr. Trump’s visit to China, scheduled for April 2026, would reinforce market expectations of stability in US-China trade relations in the coming months.

Since Mr. Trump was elected President for a second term, the two leaders of the US and China have had three phone calls, exchanged many letters, and maintained close contact. A few days ago, the two countries' economic and trade working groups held a new round of consultations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, reaching a basic consensus on resolving each side's current core issues and creating the necessary conditions for this summit.

Source: https://vtv.vn/my-va-trung-quoc-pha-bang-cang-thang-thuong-mai-voi-thoa-thuan-ve-dat-hiem-100251030141236028.htm