\n Stay up to date with the latest news from AP.\n <\/p>\n
Trump said he could sign a trade deal with China \u201cpretty soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Xi said Washington and Beijing would work to finalize their agreements to provide \u201cpeace of mind\u201d to both countries and the rest of the world, according to a report on the meeting distributed by state media.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met face-to-face on Thursday in South Korea. Tensions between the world\u2019s two largest economies have soared since Trump returned to office for a second term, and hiked import tariffs.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth sides should take the long-term perspective into account, focusing on the benefits of cooperation rather than falling into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Sources of tension remain<\/p>\n Despite Trump\u2019s optimism after a 100-minute meeting with Xi in South Korea, there continues to be the potential for major tensions between the world\u2019s two largest economies. Both nations are seeking dominant places in manufacturing, developing emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, and shaping world affairs like Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s aggressive use of tariffs since returning to the White House for a second term, combined with China\u2019s retaliatory limits on exports of rare earth elements<\/a>, 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 jeopardize their own country\u2019s fortunes.<\/p>\n When the two were seated at the start of the meeting, Xi read prepared remarks that stressed a willingness to work together despite differences.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven our different national conditions, we do not always see eye to eye with each other,\u201d he said through a translator. \u201cIt is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a slight difference in translation as China\u2019s Xinhua News Agency reported Xi as telling Trump that having some differences is inevitable.<\/p>\n Finding ways to lower the temperature<\/p>\n The leaders met in Busan, South Korea, a port city about 76 kilometers (47 miles) south from Gyeongju, the main venue for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation<\/a> summit.<\/p>\n In the days leading up to the meeting, U.S. officials signaled that Trump did not intend to make good on a recent threat<\/a> to impose an additional 100% import tax on Chinese goods, and China showed signs it was willing to relax its export controls on rare earths<\/a> and also buy soybeans from America<\/a>.<\/p>\n Officials from both countries met earlier this week in Kuala Lumpur to lay the groundwork for their leaders. Afterward, China\u2019s top trade negotiator Li Chenggang said they had reached a \u201cpreliminary consensus,\u201d a statement affirmed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who said there was \u201c a very successful framework<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly before the meeting on Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social that the meeting would be the \u201cG2,\u201d a recognition of America and China\u2019s status as the world\u2019s biggest economies. The Group of Seven and Group of 20 are other forums of industrialized nations.<\/p>\n But while those summits often happen at luxury spaces, this meeting took place in humbler surroundings: Trump and Xi met in a small gray building with a blue roof on a military base adjacent to Busan\u2019s international airport.<\/p>\n The anticipated detente has given investors and businesses caught between the two nations a sense of relief. The U.S. stock market<\/a> has climbed on the hopes of a trade framework coming out of the meeting.<\/p>\n Pressure points remain for both US and China<\/p>\n Trump has outward confidence that the grounds for a deal are in place, but previous negotiations with China this year in Geneva, Switzerland and London had a start-stop quality to them. The initial promise of progress has repeatedly given way to both countries seeking a better position against the other.<\/p>\n \u201cThe proposed deal on the table fits the pattern we\u2019ve seen all year: short-term stabilization dressed up as strategic progress,\u201d said Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. \u201cBoth sides are managing volatility, calibrating just enough cooperation to avert crisis while the deeper rivalry endures.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. and China have each shown they believe they have levers to pressure the other, and the past year has demonstrated that tentative steps forward can be short-lived.<\/p>\n
\n Follow on
\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n