So Trump and Xi Jinping just met face-to-face for the first time in six years, and apparently it went really well. Like, surprisingly well.
Trump literally rated the meeting “a 12 out of 10” when talking to reporters on Air Force One afterward. He cut tariffs on Chinese goods from 57% down to 47%. Xi agreed to let China export rare earth minerals again and start buying American soybeans. Both sides are calling it a huge success.
After months of escalating trade wars, threatened tariffs hitting 100% on some products, and both countries basically at each other’s throats, they had a 90-minute meeting in South Korea and somehow worked things out.
Or at least paused the madness for a while.
What Actually Happened at the Meeting
The two leaders met Thursday at Gimhae Air Base near Busan, South Korea. Trump was wrapping up a week-long Asia trip, and Xi flew in specifically for this meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
They started with a handshake photo op where Trump called Xi “a great leader of a great country” and said he thought they’d have a “fantastic relationship for a long period of time.” Xi responded that meeting Trump again felt “warm” and that while the US and China don’t always agree, they should be “partners and friends”.
Pretty diplomatic stuff. But the real question was whether they’d actually make any deals or just smile for cameras and accomplish nothing.
Turns out they made deals. Quite a few, actually.
After the meeting, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that they “agreed to almost everything” and there “wasn’t too much left out there” in terms of unresolved issues.
When asked to rate the meeting on a scale of 1 to 10, Trump said, “I would say the meeting was a 12.” Not 10. Twelve. He called it an “amazing meeting” and a “great success”.
That’s… pretty enthusiastic coming from Trump about anything China-related.
The Tariff Deal: From 57% to 47%
Here’s the big news. Trump agreed to lower the overall tariff rate on Chinese imports from 57% to 47% immediately.
The 10% cut is tied specifically to China’s promises on fentanyl. Earlier this year, Trump slapped a 20% tariff on all Chinese goods and called it the “fentanyl tariff” because he wanted China to stop the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals being shipped to Mexican cartels.
Xi apparently committed to cracking down hard on that. Trump said China’s already taking “very strong action” on fentanyl, so he dropped that specific tariff from 20% down to 10%. Combined with other tariff reductions, the total rate fell to 47%.
Trump even hinted he might drop the remaining 10% fentanyl tariff entirely if China follows through. “As soon as we see that, we’ll get rid of the other 10%,” he told reporters.
So we could be looking at 37% tariffs if China actually stops the fentanyl flow. That’s still way higher than the historical average of around 3%, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the 57% they were paying before.
China responded by saying they’ll make “corresponding adjustments” to their retaliatory tariffs on American goods. Details are sketchy, but it sounds like they’re lowering their tariffs on US imports too.
