The US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time in-person in six years on Thursday, October 30, in South Korea.
The highly anticipated meeting between Trump and Xi is seen as a major breakthrough at a time when both countries are locked in trade tariffs and zero-sum game.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum for 100 minutes.
During the summit, different issues related to trade tariffs, semiconductor ban, critical earth minerals and fentanyl chemicals were discussed.
The meeting was hailed as progressive, and according to Trump, “We are going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time.”
Here are the major key takeaways of the summit that could reshape US-China ties.
The most distinguished feature of the Trump-Xi meeting is the one-year agreement on rare earth export, resuming its exports to the world.
In turn, Trump announced to reduce tariffs from 57 percent to 47 percent on Chinese goods.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One "All of the rare earth has been settled. All of the rare earth has been settled. That roadblock is gone now, there’s no roadblock at all on rare earths.”
Rare earths are 17 elements that are highly significant for weapons, defence industries, green technologies, and smartphones.
Earlier this month, China in a dramatic move strengthened its rare earths export controls and tightened additional scrutiny for semiconductors using firms.
When it comes to critical minerals, China holds control on 70 percent of rare earths mining and 90 percent of the processing of the materials.
Another significant outcome of this meeting is the resumption of chip exports and Nvidia sales to China as previously Chinese firms were barred from the sales.
Under the new framework, the US will be more of an “arbitrator” between China and Nvidia.
However, China still faces hindrance in acquiring the company’s cutting-edge “Blackwell” AI chips.
The US and Chinese presidents both mutually agreed to work together to curb the flow of chemicals used in manufacturing fentanyl. In turn, Trump slashed the tariff on Chinese products related to fentanyl from 20 percent to 10 percent.
China also announced plans to resume buying soybeans from the US in bulk.
According to Trump, , “This has been one of the most contentious issues of the trade war. We are bringing back business to our farmers.”
In the meeting, no potential deal over the TikTok frame was finalized.
As per China’s commerce ministry details, “"The US side made positive commitments in areas such as investment, and the Chinese side will properly address issues related to TikTok.”