Trump-Xi meeting nears with high stakes and hopes, but few details

An important meeting between the president Donald Trump And the Chinese president Xi Jinping It could result in a breakthrough in the dispute commerce The relationship between the two economic superpower.

But while both the Trump administration and Beijing are showing optimism ahead of the meeting, details about the summit remain unclear — and some experts question the White House’s confidence.

Phil Lack, director of the economics program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he expects a result that is “relatively simple, relatively ambiguous” and “not spectacular.”

“I think, overall, we and the Chinese have started a lot of small fires over the last few months, and we’re going to basically put out a few of them,” he told CNBC.

The meeting — the first between the two leaders face-to-face since Trump reclaimed the White House and began his trade war with China — is scheduled to begin late Wednesday Eastern time, Thursday morning local time in Busan, South Korea.

The bilateral meeting is the last item on Trump’s agenda before his return to Washington, D.C., at the conclusion of a five-day, three-nation tour across Asia.

“I very much look forward to my meeting with Chinese President Xi,” Trump wrote in a letter. Truth is a social function Less than four hours before the start of the bilateral meeting.

On his way to South Korea, Trump said he expected his administration to reduce some tariffs on Chinese imports linked to the alleged smuggling of fentanyl into the United States.

“I expect to lower that because I think they’re going to help us on the fentanyl issue,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “They will do what they can do.”

But when asked what China was doing to justify eliminating tariffs on fentanyl, Trump did not provide any details.

“Well, I think they’re going to do things that, you know, they have an industry that has to do with drugs,” he said. “Fentanyl has other reasons to be there, and we have to get rid of it. We have to stop it.”

When a reporter pressed for clarification on whether China would assist U.S. law enforcement with fentanyl — and if so, how — Trump offered little.

“China will work with me, and we’ll do something, I think, I mean, look, we should have the meeting, our meeting tomorrow. This is a big meeting, and fentanyl will be one of the things we’re discussing,” he said.

He added: “The important thing is that we will discuss the issue of farmers. We will discuss many matters.”

Trump did not clarify how farmers would factor into the discussions.

China was the largest buyer of American soybeans, but it halted all purchases of the staple crop for several months amid a tit-for-tat tariff war, costing American farmers Billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Before the Trump-Xi meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant He hinted that the soybean drought will end soon.

“I think when the deal with China is announced, our soybean farmers will feel good about what happens for this season and the seasons to come for several years,” Besant said Sunday.

This week, Chinese-owned COFCO purchased three planes US soybean shipments For December and January shipments, equivalent to approximately 180,000 metric tons of product. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins Trump praised the purchase as a big step forward and the result of “strong dealmaking” by Trump.

But “that’s a pittance” compared to what China typically buys in just one week during the fall harvest season, CSIS’s Lack told CNBC.

When the White House requested additional information about what Trump planned to discuss with Xi, it referred CNBC to the president’s comments about Air Force One.

Trump also indicated, in those remarks, that he was unlikely to raise the Taiwan issue with Xi, saying: “I don’t know that we would even talk about” the self-governing island.

“I’m not sure. I mean, he might want to ask about that. There’s not much to ask,” Trump said.

In mid-October, Trump threatened to raise customs duties on Chinese goods by 100%, effective November 1, after Beijing announced new restrictions on the export of rare earth metals. Days later, Trump threatened to stop the United States from purchasing Chinese cooking oil In response to China freezing its purchases of soybeans.

But after talks between the two countries’ top trade negotiators, Besant said Sunday that the United States and China had reached an agreement.Framework for a trade agreement This would prevent a 100% US tariff from taking effect.

“I also expect that we will get some sort of postponement on the rare earth export controls that the Chinese have discussed,” Besant said.

Luck said he believed cutting some tariffs would be one of the “simplest” things Xi and Trump could announce after their meeting. “We threatened to impose these really high tariffs, but almost immediately it was clear that we did not want to impose them,” he said.

Luck said he also expected the meeting to result in at least some discussions on “rolling back some of the export controls we imposed and some others.”

The bilateral meetings between Trump and Xi will come after friendly meetings with the leaders of Japan, South Korea and other countries.

He begins his Asian journey in Kuala Lumpur, Trump signed The so-called reciprocal trade agreements with Malaysia and the United States have announced “frameworks” for trade talks with them Thailand And Vietnam.

In Japan, Trump met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaishi and signed agreements regarding this Rare earths and nuclear energy.

Trump also claimed that Japanese auto giant Toyota had committed to spending $10 billion to build American factories – but a Toyota executive… It is said that he said This specific new investment has not been announced.