US, Chinese Presidents to meet in South Korea; Taiwan, tariffs, trade on agenda
Today’s main event is the blockbuster meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of APEC after months of trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies have destabilized global markets and supply chains.
The meeting is scheduled to be held at 11am (1pm AEDT) in Busan, South Korea, a port city about 76 kilometers south of Gyeongju, but exact venue details are not yet known.
The high-stakes meeting marks the first time the two will sit face-to-face since Trump returned to the White House and follows two known phone calls between the leaders.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the APEC CEO summit in Gyeongju on Wednesday.Credit: Bloomberg
The U.S. and Chinese presidents are expected to agree on a cease-fire agreement that would roll back some of their countries’ recent trade restrictions on each other’s economies, including new port fees on shipping operations and U.S. threats to tighten its grip on China’s access to American software.
As part of the expected deal, Trump and his officials have foreshadowed that his administration would lower tariffs in exchange for Beijing’s cooperation on fentanyl smuggling.
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But the big ticket deal is securing a delay in Beijing’s planned sweeping curbs on rare earth exports that threaten to derail global high-tech production in exchange for Trump abandoning plans to hit Chinese exports with a 100 percent surcharge on November 1.
In a positive sign ahead of the meeting, China yesterday made its first purchase of American soybeans after a months-long hiatus that threatened to financially cripple US farmers, a key voting base for Trump.
