GYEONGJU, South Korea– President Trump said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping "agreed to almost everything" in their nearly two-hour meeting in South Korea, which Trump said was "friendly."
It was Trump's last event after a week of summits, trade talks and other diplomatic events in the Indo-Pacific. On the flight back to Washington, Trump told reporters traveling with him that he would rate the meeting with Xi "on a scale from zero to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12."
"It was an outstanding group of decisions I think that was made. A lot of decisions were made too, there wasn't too much left out there," Trump said.
The decisions that were made included lowering tariffs on Chinese exports from 57% to 47% – which Trump said was because of Xi's commitment to decrease the flow of fentanyl.
"I believe he's going to work very hard to stop the death that's coming in," Trump said.
China will also begin repurchasing soybeans from the U.S. The pause thus far has been detrimental to farmers.
Trump said China's decision from earlier this month to limit exports of rare earth minerals, which he called a "roadblock," is now off the table for one year. As part of that agreement, the U.S. will also scale back some of its own export restrictions.
The White House has not yet released a full readout of the meeting or details on updates to the deal. Trump said he would visit China next April for another meeting with Xi, and Xi will visit the U.S. after that.
In response to the meeting, Beijing released its own statement, where Xi said China and the U.S. should not get "caught in a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation."
The meeting took place in Busan before Trump left the region
Trump and Xi met at a South Korean military base in Busan right by the city's airport. The meeting began with a handshake before moving into a session with representatives from both countries.
"President Xi is a great leader of a great country, and I think we're going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time," Trump said at the top of the meeting, calling Xi a friend.
It's the first time Trump and Xi are meeting in person in six years. Xi noted in his remarks, through an interpreter, that the two have spoken on the phone three times and exchanged several letters since Trump was reelected last year.
Xi said to Trump it was "normal" that the U.S. and China have "frictions" in their relations from time to time but said amid challenges, "You and I at the helm of China-U.S. relations should stay the right course."
"China and the U.S. should be partners and friends. This is what history has taught us and what reality demands," Xi said.
Xi also said he appreciated Trump for his contributions to the ceasefire agreement in the Middle East, and said Trump cares "a lot about world peace."
He also mentioned Trump's recent trip to Malaysia for the ASEAN summit, where Trump presided over a signing of a peace deal between Cambodia and Thailand. Trump has been adamant that China played no role in procuring the ceasefire, but Xi said that "China's been helping our own way" to end the border dispute there.
Not every topic was covered in the meeting
The two leaders discussed Russia's war in Ukraine, Trump said. China has been buying Russian oil but Trump said they didn't discuss that topic in depth.
Taiwan – an issue Trump has shied away from in recent days – also didn't come up, he said. China considers self-governing Taiwan a breakaway province and there have been signs from Trump that he might be willing to ease up support for the island.
A deal on TikTok was also potentially a topic of discussion but Trump didn't mention it in his remarks to reporters after the meeting.
While flying on Air Force One back to Washington, Trump posted to his platform Truth Social that China also agreed to purchase American energy, and teased that the purchase would involve oil and gas from Alaska, though he didn't provide any further detail.
"Chris Wright, Doug Burgum, and our respective Energy teams will be meeting to see if such an Energy Deal can be worked out," Trump said, referring to the secretary of energy and interior, respectively.
Copyright 2025 NPR
