Trump–Xi Summit in South Korea Yields Breakthrough on Trade, Tariffs, and Rare Earths

Donald Trump says the US can sign a trade deal with China "pretty soon" following talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.

He announces lower tariffs on Chinese imports and says the issue over US access to rare earths has been settled; Beijing is yet to comment.

Trump's announcements will be seen as a breakthrough after trade tensions had ramped up again between the world's two biggest economies.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump held a landmark meeting in South Korea that could reset the volatile relationship between the world’s two largest economies and rival superpowers.

Both leaders offered warm remarks at the start of the talks – their first face-to-face in six years – at an airbase in the coastal city of Busan, near to where an international summit is taking place.

Trump praised Xi as the “great leader of a great country” and said he thought the two “were going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time,” while the Chinese leader said it was a “great pleasure” to see Trump after many years.

The Two Leaders then sat down for talks.

One hour and forty minutes later the two leaders re-emerged and could be seen shaking hands at the conclusion of their talks.

Trump said tariffs on Chinese goods would be reduced, so that’s a win for China.

The rest of the details are still to be announced, but it does seem that Beijing will be allowed to buy advanced computer chips from the US - which was a key demand.

Trump then boarded Air Force One without speaking the the media, ending his consequential tour of Asia.

The world is closely watching for whether the two leaders can stabilize their countries’ fractious relationship during the meeting, which caps off the US president’s five-day, three-country visit to Asia.

The global economy has for months been roiled by a tit-for-tat of mounting tariffs, export controls and other penalties hitting areas from high-tech goods to high-seas shipping, as the US and China have vacillated between escalation and negotiation.

A meeting between US and Chinese trade negotiators over the weekend in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ended with both sides appearing optimistic that Trump and Xi could agree to a framework on navigating their ties going forward.