'Amazing' meeting Xi

CHINA: TRUMP, CHINA AGREE TO CALM TRADE WAR THAT ROILED MARKETS >>> US president tells Pentagon to start nuke testing 'on equal basis' to Russia.

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BUDDIES. US President Donald Trump, left, and China's President Xi Jinping arrive for talks at the Gimhae Air Base, in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Picture: AFP

(AFP)

Stock markets mostly retreated yesterday as traders digested a high-stakes meeting between the US and Chinese presidents, mixed company earnings and uncertainty over further US interest rate cuts.

US President Donald Trump described his meeting in South Korea with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping - their first since 2019, during Trump’s first term as “amazing”.

The two leaders agreed to calm the US-China trade war that has roiled global markets, with Washington cutting some tariffs and Beijing committing to keep supplies of critical rare earths flowing.

But stock markets turned mostly lower after having hit records in the run-up to the meeting.

Trump said yesterday he had ordered the Pentagon to start nuclear weapons testing “on an equal basis” to China and Russia - an announcement made just minutes before he held the high-stakes summit with Jinping.