BUSAN, South Korea — President Trump warmly greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday at their first summit meeting since he returned to power — telling reporters he expects to reach a “great understanding” and thaw tensions.
“Great pleasure to see you again,” Xi told Trump through an interpreter as they shook hands in a brief photo op.
“We’re going to have a very successful meeting, I have no doubt. But he’s a very tough negotiator — that’s not good,” Trump told the press. “We know each other well.”
Asked if he expected to ink a trade deal, Trump replied: “Could be. I think we have — we’ll have a great understanding. We have a great relationship. We’ve always had a great relationship.”
US and Chinese negotiators hammered out a “framework” understanding ahead of the meeting.
Trump said Wednesday that he intends to cut his 20% fentanyl tariffs on China and indicated he’s unlikely to follow through on his threatened 100% additional tariff over Beijing’s new export restrictions on products made with rare-earth and critical minerals.
China, in turn, is expected to suspend the export restrictions for a year and pledge a crackdown on smuggling of the synthetic opioid, which killed roughly one in every 1,000 Americans over the past five years, according to federal data.
China also is expected to commit to resuming purchases of US soybeans after tariffing them heavily in retribution for the fentanyl levies that Trump imposed in February.
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