United States President Donald Trump has met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, amid frictions over trade.

    The two sides are yet to announce if Trump and Xi were able to reach an agreement.

    Ahead of the meeting, Trump called Xi a “tough negotiator” and said the two leaders “could” announce a deal.

    For his part, Xi said “it feels very warm” to see Trump and hailed the “encouraging progress” reached by China and US delegations in trade talks last week.

    Tensions escalated this month, with Trump threatening to raise tariffs on Chinese products to 100 percent after Beijing imposed new global restrictions on rare earth minerals, which are key for modern technology.

Other key issues on the table include measures to halt the flow of chemicals used in the manufacture of fentanyl, Chinese imports of US soya beans, semiconductors for artificial intelligence, and the fate of TikTok

Trump says many decisions made during meeting with Xi

    The US president has been speaking aboard Air Force One.

    He described the meeting as “amazing” and said an “outstanding group of decisions” were made.

    “We’ve come to conclusions on many very important points, and we’ll be handing that to you in a little while,” he said.

    He added that China will begin buying Soy Beans immediately, after approving the resumption of purchases yesterday.

    “On fentanyl, we agreed that he was going to work very hard to stop the flow,” Trump said.

    The US president added he had dropped tariffs on China related to fentanyl from 20 percent to 10 percent.

Trump and Xi’s talks shorter than expected

    The duration of Trump and Xi’s talks – about 1 hour and 40 minutes – has taken some observers by surprise.

    Shan Guo, a partner with Shanghai-based Hutong Research, says the “shorter than expected” meeting likely indicates the sides focused only on issues that had been agreed on before hand.

    While the sides did not release an official timetable for the meeting, Trump had suggested the talks could last up to four hours.

    There is still no word on what Trump and Xi agreed to in their meeting.

Xi’s warm opening remarks ‘signal pivot from hardball approach’

By Katrina Yu

Reporting from Beijing, China

    President Xi’s very warm opening remarks suggested that he was expecting some good outcomes.

    He would not have sat down with Trump for the first time since 2019, if there weren’t some things already in the pipeline in the lead up to this meeting.

    It could be an agreement on Fentanyl, it could be TikTok, and we’ve now also had confirmation from American farmers that China has resumed some orders of soybeans.

    These could all be part of a deal.

    We don’t know how substantial those talks were and if any solution has been found on these high-stakes differences of opinions.

    The second thing that we can garner from Xi’s remarks is that China wants to work with the Trump administration, not only to make America great again and to find some stability in the ties between the nations.

    If you look at the second term for Trump, so far, Xi and his government have pretty much played hardball. He’s been one of the few leaders around the world willing to fight back against Washington, whether it be raising tariffs, raising restrictions on US markets.

    So I think this warm tone is really sending a message of positive goodwill.

    Yes, China can fight back. It can play hardball, but China also genuinely wants to stabilise ties with Washington.

    And of course, the audience for this message is not only Trump and his team, but it’s to governments around the world. It’s to investors around the world who do want to see some stability, and some, I think, balance, or at least calming, of the tensions between these two powers.

‘We are all eagerly waiting to see what transpired’

By Rob McBride

Reporting from Busan, South Korea

    We’ve just had confirmation from the Chinese state broadcaster that the meeting has wrapped up.

    It lasted for a total of one hour and 40 minutes.

    We are all eagerly waiting to see what transpired. Whether there was an agreement, whether anything will be signed and whether there will be a statement later.

    The meeting took place in a convivial atmosphere, with Xi’s lengthy statement at the beginning, talking about the two nations’ responsibilities to sort out their differences.

Trump boards Air Force One after meeting Xi

    The US president is set to depart South Korea after his meeting with Xi.

    The summit lasted for less than two hours, far shorter than the four hours Trump had previously predicted.

    There have not been any announcements on new agreements since the meeting ended.

Xi, Trump end trade talks

    China’s CCTV is reporting that Xi and Trump have ended their meeting after about one hour and 40 minutes.

    The pair were just seen leaving the venue in Busan, South Korea, and getting into limousines.

    Trump had previously said the meeting could last four hours.

Trump-Xi meeting expected to result in ‘temporary truce’

By John Power

    Wendy Cutler, the former acting deputy US Trade Representative, has told Al Jazeera that today’s meeting is likely to result in a “temporary truce” between the US and China.

    But she said she does not expect a more lasting breakthrough.

    “We could see a Chinese commitment to purchase more US soybeans and place restrictions on fentanyl precursor exports, but Beijing will expect US concessions in return,” she said.

    “The outcomes are likely to result in a stabilisation of bilateral relations for the time being, but escalation is likely down the road,” she said.

    Several factors will contribute to ongoing trade tensions, including “lack of trust, wanting the upper hand, and pursuing policies to promote domestic competitiveness and innovation”, Culter added.

Who is present at the China-US summit

    President Xi and President Trump have both been accompanied by six high-level officials. They are:

China

    Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, Vice Premier He Lifeng, Chief of Staff Cai Qi, and Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Zheng Shanjie.

United States

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US Ambassador to China David Perdue.