President Trump declared, 'We have a deal,' just moments after sitting down with China’s Xi Jinping — their first face-to-face since Trump’s return to the White House.
Source: Bloomberg Podcasts
"On the scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, moments after departing the South Korean air base where the nearly two-hour summit took place.
“We have a deal. Now, every year we will renegotiate the deal. But I think the deal will go on for a long time.”
U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping shook hands as they arrived for talks at Gimhae Air Base, just steps from Busan’s international airport. AFP via Getty Images
Trump said Xi agreed to hit pause — for one year — on China’s new export curbs targeting rare-earth and critical minerals, a move that could have sent shockwaves through the global market for magnets, batteries, and semiconductors.
The breakthrough spares Beijing from Trump’s threatened 100% tariff on Chinese goods — a measure set to take effect November 1 in retaliation for China’s export curbs that forced companies to seek special shipping permits.
“There’s no roadblock at all on rare earth,” he said. “It’s a one-year deal that I think will be very routinely extended.”
Trump said Xi also agreed to step up China’s crackdown on fentanyl exports — and in return, the U.S. would cut its fentanyl-related tariff on Chinese goods from 20% to 10%, lowering the overall average tariff on Chinese imports from 57.6% to 47.6%, just below the 50% rate applied to Brazil and India.
Xi also pledged to resume buying what Trump called “tremendous amounts of soybeans,” after China had halted purchases earlier this year in retaliation for the U.S. fentanyl tariff.
“What can I say? It was an outstanding group of decisions that was made. A lot of decisions were made too — it wasn’t too much left out there,” Trump said, adding that he plans to visit China in April.
“I thought it was an amazing meeting.”
Trump doubled down in a later Truth Social post, saying: “China also agreed that they will begin the process of purchasing American Energy. In fact, a very large scale transaction may take place concerning the purchase of Oil and Gas from the Great State of Alaska.”
Many of the key elements of the deal had already been mapped out, after U.S. and Chinese negotiators hammered out a “framework” agreement during talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The president did not specify whether the pending U.S. deal to transfer control of TikTok was raised or finalized during the talks.
He confirmed that Taiwan did not come up during the talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and China’s President Xi Jinping (4th L) held talks at Gimhae Air Base, next to Busan’s international airport, on October 30, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
Trump said, however, that the two leaders discussed ways to work together to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Ukraine came up very strongly. We talked about it for a long time,” he said.
“We didn’t really discuss the [Russian] oil [exports to China]. We discussed working together to see if we can get that war finished.”
Trump and Xi greeted each other warmly at the start of the summit, with Trump forecasting a “great understanding” that could ease trade tensions.
“Great pleasure to see you again,” Xi told Trump as they shook hands, following nearly a year of back-and-forth economic escalations.
"China’s development goes hand in hand with your vision to make America great again," Xi said at the start of their formal meeting, before the two leaders held private talks lasting about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
“Our two countries are fully able to help each other succeed and prosper together,” Xi said. “Over the years I have stated in public many times that China and the United States should be partners and friends.”
Fentanyl, which prompted Trump’s initial tariffs on Chinese goods earlier this year, is a highly potent synthetic opioid mostly produced in China and smuggled into the U.S., where it has killed nearly 330,000 Americans over the past five years, according to federal data.
“On fentanyl, we agreed that he was going to work very hard to stop the flow… I think you’re going to see some real action taken,” Trump said. “I think you’re going to see a big difference.”
Xi had previously pledged to crack down on fentanyl during Trump’s first term by imposing the death penalty on exporters — yet shipments surged at the end of 2020 as U.S.-China relations collapsed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The drug claimed the lives of about one in every 1,000 Americans over the five-year period ending in April, the latest month for which CDC data are available.
Xi reiterated his commitment to stop the flow of fentanyl during a summit with then-President Joe Biden in November 2023.
Between March 2024 and April 2025, around 44,000 Americans died of overdoses, a drop from 68,000 in the preceding year since the Biden summit — though analysts dispute whether the decline reflects real progress or simply the aftermath of earlier heavy losses.
Trump told last Thursday that “the first question I’m going to be asking [Xi] about is fentanyl.”
“They make $100 million selling fentanyl into our country — $100 million. They lose $100 billion with the 20% tariff,” he said. “So it’s not a good business proposition.
