Pursuing ‘a trade strategy, not a China strategy’

Trump promises ‘fantastic’ results, but worries persist over tariffs and technology.

- By DoyLE McManus

DANIEL CENG Anadolu PEOPLE in South Korea view a report ahead of a meeting between President Trump and China's Xi Jinping.

President Trump faces the most important international meeting of his second term so far on Thursday: face-to-face negotiations with Xi Jinping, who has made China a formidable economic and military challenger to the United States.

The two presidents face a vast agenda during their meeting in Seoul, beginning with the two countries’ escalating trade war over tariffs and high-tech exports. The list also includes U.S. demands for a Chinese crackdown on fentanyl, China’s aid to Russia in its war with Ukraine, the future of Taiwanand China’s growingnuclear arsenal.

Trump has already promised, — characteristically, that the meeting will be a major success. “It’s going tobe fantastic for both countries, and it’s going to be fantastic for the entire world,” he said last week.

But it isn’t yet clear that the summit’s concrete results will measure up to that high standard.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that the two sides have agreed to a “framework” under which China would delay implementing tight controls on rare earth elements, minerals crucial for the production of high-tech products from smartphones and electric vehicles to military aircraft and missiles. He said China has also agreed to resume buying soybeans from U.S. farmers and to crack down on fentanyl components.