US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have finally met face to face after months of tensions. The meeting, in the South Korean city of Busan, started around 11:00 a.m. local time (3:00 a.m. in mainland Spain), according to Chinese media. “It is a great honor to be with my friend, really for a long time, if you think about it, the very, very distinguished and respected president of China,” Trump commented, in a flattering and positive tone, at the beginning of the meeting, according to the White House channel broadcast on social networks. “We’re going to have some discussions. We’ve already agreed on a lot of things, we’ll agree on some more right now. But 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.”
Xi has also assured that it is a pleasure to see each other again. “Many years have passed,” he said at the beginning of the meeting. And he recalled that since Trump’s re-election they have spoken on the phone three times, exchanged several letters, and remained in close contact. Thanks to the guidance of both, relations have remained “stable as a whole,” he said. “Due to the differences between the two nations, we do not always agree. It is normal for the two main economies in the world to have friction from time to time,” the Chinese president continued. But in the face of challenges, he concluded, leaders should ensure that relationships remain on the right track.
Both have posed with broad smiles for photographers in front of the flags of their countries. The interview, which began in a friendly tone, was already preceded by that from both parties, who seek to relax the battle they are maintaining on different fronts. This is the first physical meeting between the leaders since the Republican arrived at the White House for the second time, in January of this year, and unleashed a tariff hurricane between the two powers that reached commercial blockade levels. in fact last spring, dragging a good part of the world economy along the way.
In the preliminaries to the meeting, Xi assured that China’s development does not conflict with Trump’s vision of “making America great again.” The two countries “can fully complement each other and prosper together,” he stated.
The Asian leader has also expressly recognized Trump’s work to resolve international conflicts. “You care a lot about world peace,” he said. “I appreciate his great contribution to achieving the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.” He also recalled that last Sunday the American witnessed the signing of a peace declaration on the border between Cambodia and Thailand. And he has expressed how China, for its part, has also been promoting dialogue and reconciliation on sensitive issues. “In today’s world there are still many challenges, and China and the United States can together demonstrate the responsibility of great powers.”
The meeting, which was on the verge of being canceled in recent weeks, has been possible largely thanks to the meeting between the negotiating teams from Washington and Beijing, which spent a weekend of intense debate. “We are going to have something that will be very, very satisfactory for China and for us,” Trump announced Wednesday night during a dinner with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and other regional leaders on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific forum. “I think it’s going to be a very good meeting. I’m looking forward to tomorrow morning,” he anticipated. The face-to-face session could last “three or four hours,” he also said, according to statements reported by Fox News. It will be then that the details of the agreements reached in Busan will be known.
After a summer of apparent calm, after Washington and Beijing managed to seal a tariff truce in May, tensions soared again in October, after China’s deployment that felt like a sting in the White House. Beijing responded with this latest blow to what it considered a breach of the non-aggression pact by Washington, after the White House approved, among other measures, an expansion of the list of entities subject to export controls, which potentially affects thousands of subsidiaries of Chinese companies.
Trump goes to the meeting with Xi with the expectation that he will agree to delay the implementation of restrictions on exports of critical minerals; Meanwhile, Beijing trusts that Trump will reverse his policy of trade barriers and technological obstacles, and also aspires to a generalized dialogue that will stabilize the relationship.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which is being held in the city of Gyeongju, the ancient medieval capital of Korea. But their confrontation took place at the airport in neighboring Busan, as if it were an eclipse: with Trump about to take off to return to the United States and Xi having just landed to attend the summit. Trump, in fact, skips the official days of the leaders’ forum, which begins on Friday.
The meeting takes place a few days before the expiration of the truce in the imposition of reciprocal tariffs agreed in May, and extended in August, which expires on November 10. And with the hourglass ticking until this Saturday, the threat of new 100% tariffs on imports from China, aired by Trump as retaliation for .
The two parties, which have a good collection of disputes, are also expected to negotiate a definitive agreement on the sale of the popular Chinese video social network TikTok in the United States, debate the increase in exports of American soybeans to the People’s Republic, and the recent increase in reciprocal port docking fees, in addition to addressing the always volatile issue of Taiwan, the self-governed island that Beijing considers an inalienable part of its territory, and to which Washington provides military aid.
