Trump, Xi hold first in-person talks since Trump’s second term began

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a 1 hour 40 minute bilateral meeting in the South Korean city of Busan — their first face-to-face encounter since the start of Trump’s second term.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Trump said he anticipated “a very successful meeting,” while Xi noted that despite three phone calls and exchanged letters, “major economies like ours are bound to experience friction.” Still, he stressed, “China and the U.S. should be friends and partners — history has taught us this, and reality demands it.”

Asked by reporters if a deal would be reached, Trump replied, “Maybe.”

Top topics on the agenda included tariffs, artificial intelligence chips and rare earth minerals, and TikTok. Trump’s team floated lowering some import tariffs in return for cooperation on restricting the export of fentanyl precursors.

The two sides also discussed high-performance AI chips, which U.S. firms like Nvidia want to sell to China, and the strategic importance of rare earths, which Beijing dominates in global supply. On TikTok, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a sale deal for the app’s U.S. assets could be finalized during the summit, though no concrete update was given.

U.S. attendees included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Latnick, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue.

China was represented by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Vice Premier He Lifeng, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, and Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Zheng Shanjie, among others.