Trump and Xi agree to one-year trade truce, easing tensions

TARIFFS TRIMMED, RARE-EARTHS PAUSE AGREED

- AGENCIES

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping to trim tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing cracking down on the illicit fentanyl trade, resuming US soybean purchases and keeping rare earths exports flowing.

Trump's face-to-face talks with Xi in the South Korean city of Busan, their first since 2019, marked the finale of a whirlwind Asia trip on which he also touted trade breakthroughs with South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian nations.

“Ttwas an amazing meeting,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One shortly after he left South Korea, ranking the talks a “12 out of 10”. Trump said tariffs on Chinese imports would be cut to 47 percent from 57 percent, by halving to 10 percent the rate of tariffs related to trade in fentanyl precursor drugs.

Xi will work “very hard to stop the flow” of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that is the leading cause of American overdose deaths, Trump said.