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By Dorothy Li and Frank Fang Contributing Writers U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for roughly 100 minutes on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Thursday in Busan, South Korea, according to Chinese state media. “We agreed on many things, with others, even of high importance, being very close to resolved,” Trump said in a social media post after the talks with Xi. “I had a truly great meeting with President Xi of China.” Trump has returned to Washington after a week-long trip to Asia, which also included stops in Malaysia and Japan. Xi will continue his state visit to South Korea — the first in 11 years — and attend the APEC summit in Gyeongju. Here are nine takeaways: China to Buy US Soybeans U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington and Beijing had finalized a trade framework reached last week following two days of negotiations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “The Kuala Lumpur agreement was finished in the middle of the night last night, so I expect we will exchange signatures possibly as soon as next week,” Bessent told Fox News after Trump’s meeting with Xi. As part of the agreement, he said, China has committed to buying “a minimum of 25 million metric tons” of American soybeans each year for the next three years. For the current season through January, Beijing agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans from the United States, according to Bessent. Traditionally a top importer of American soybeans, China had not made any purchases from the United States this harvest season, instead turning to Brazil and Argentina to fulfill its quota. Trump has accused the communist regime of seeking to use U.S. farmers as leverage, saying he would use the money the federal government brought in from tariffs to cushion farmers’ losses. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced in a social media post on Wednesday that China had booked multiple shipments of U.S. soybeans. “This purchase, coming directly ahead of the Trump-Xi talks, shows that America means business and that we will restore balance, give U.S. producers the opportunities they’ve earned, and send a message that when America leads in agriculture, the world listens,” Rollins said on X. Rare Earth to Flow Issues surrounding China’s supply of rare earth minerals — essential for manufacturing a wide range of products from electric vehicles to military jets and submarines — were addressed during the meeting, according to Trump. “All of the rare earth has been settled, and that’s for the world,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One shortly after the talks. Trump said Beijing had agreed to a one-year pause on its plan to impose stringent export controls on rare earths. He mentioned that the agreement could be extended after a year. “There’s no roadblock at all on rare earth. That will hopefully disappear from our vocabulary for a little while,” he said. In a later statement, the Chinese Commerce Ministry confirmed the decision to postpone, for one year, the implementation of rare earth export curbs and other related measures announced on Oct. 9. A ministry spokesperson said Beijing will study and refine specific implementation plans. In exchange, the United States will delay for one year the enforcement of a new export control regulation unveiled on Sept. 29. Port Fees Pause Aside from export control measures, Beijing and Washington will suspend port fees for one year, according to the statement from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The U.S. began charging port fees on China-built vessels starting Oct. 14, based on an investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which found the regime’s trade policies and practices were “unreasonable” and damaging to U.S. companies, workers and the economy. In a same-day retaliation, the communist regime began charging U.S. ships docking at Chinese ports. According to the Chinese Commerce Ministry, Beijing will now suspend its countermeasures for a year, while the U.S. pauses related actions stemming from the probes into China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, speaking to reporters on Air Force One, also mentioned this decision. “We’re going to postpone that while we negotiate with them about that issue,” Greer said. He also noted that South Korea, the world’s leading shipbuilder, has committed to investing $150 billion in the U.S. shipbuilding industry. US to Halve Fentanyl Tariffs The Trump administration will cut the 20% fentanyl-related tariffs to 10%, effective immediately. The adjustment brings the total levies on Chinese goods to 47%. The president expressed confidence that Beijing would take “strong action” to stop the flow of precursor chemicals used in fentanyl production. “I believe [Xi is] gonna work very hard to stop the death that’s coming in,” Trump told reporters while departing from South Korea. In return, China will “correspondingly adjust its countermeasures” against the United States, the regime’s commerce ministry said in a statement. Rollins later said on X that Beijing will remove “unwarranted” tariffs on U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans, cotton, sorghum, corn, wheat, chicken, dairy, pork, beef, and fruits and vegetables. The Chinese regime, on March 4, had announced additional levies on these American agricultural imports in response to Washington’s implementation of a 10% tariff linked to the regime’s role in fentanyl. The U.S. has determined that China is the main supplier of the deadly illicit drug in the United States, and Trump, in an executive order on Feb. 1, imposed initial tariffs on China for its “central role” in the fentanyl crisis. Trump to Visit China in April Trump confirmed a visit to China in April 2026. Xi will visit the United States “sometime after that,” Trump said, saying the Chinese leader could be visiting either Palm Beach, Florida, or Washington. Trump visited China during his first term in 2017. Following the trip, companies from the two countries signed trade and investment deals worth more than $250 billion, although some had been in the works prior to the visit and many were nonbinding. The scheduled trip will raise a key question: whether U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was twice sanctioned by Beijing in 2020 for his criticism of China’s human rights record, will be able to accompany Trump, given that the sanctions bar him from traveling to China. Taiwan The issue of Taiwan, which Trump had said he would raise, did not come up during his meeting with Xi. “It never came up. Taiwan never came up. It was not discussed, actually,” he said. Xi has instructed his military to prepare for a 2027 attack on Taiwan. In August, Trump said Xi had assured him China would refrain from invading Taiwan during Trump’s presidency. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Thursday that Taiwan is “confident” in its relations with the United States and that the two sides have “close communication channels,” dismissing speculation that Taiwan’s interests might be compromised by discussions between the two world leaders. Taipei and Washington are not formal diplomatic allies, but the U.S. has been the island’s largest arms supplier for its self-defense. TikTok Deal Trump did not mention TikTok after he met with Xi. However, after the meeting, the Chinese Commerce Ministry announced that it will “properly resolve issues” related to TikTok, without providing details. Bessent, speaking in a later interview with Fox News, said the TikTok ownership transfer deal has received Beijing’s approval and he anticipated the process could advance in the near future. On Sept. 25, Trump signed an executive order setting the path for a TikTok deal that could shift majority ownership of the app to U.S. investors. Under the order, ByteDance has 120 days to finalize the transaction terms. Under the deal, ByteDance would hold one of seven board seats and less than 20% of stock in TikTok’s U.S. business. Oracle, which will host TikTok’s U.S. user data on its servers, has been named TikTok U.S.’s security provider. The company will oversee the platform’s code and updates, monitor the content recommendation algorithm, and watch for signs of malicious influence. ‘American Energy’ In a post on Truth Social after meeting Xi, Trump announced a potential “American energy” deal with China, saying Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum are working to complete an agreement that would see China make a “very large-scale transaction” of oil and gas from Alaska. China has largely shunned U.S. crude oil imports and has instead been reselling American liquefied natural gas since early this year, as Beijing’s high tariffs have made purchases unviable. The Semiconductor Question Trump and Xi discussed semiconductors and chips during their meeting, but they didn’t discuss approving the sale of Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell artificial intelligence chips. “[China is] going to be talking to Nvidia and others about taking chips,” Trump said, but the United States will be acting as a “sort of arbitrator or the referee.” Asked by a reporter whether his administration would authorize exports of Blackwell chips, Trump replied, “We’re not talking about the Blackwell.” Catherine Yang contributed to this report.
