US President Donald Trump expressed optimism that the US and China are close to reaching a “successful deal” at his upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea — a turning point that could help ease years of trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
A White House source said that the two sides' negotiating teams have completed a preliminary trade agreement framework, which includes important commitments to prevent Washington from imposing additional 100% tariffs on Chinese goods - a measure that Mr. Trump had warned would be implemented if Beijing did not make concessions on issues related to strategic mineral and high-tech exports.
The official meeting between the two leaders is scheduled to take place on October 30 in Gyeongju, South Korea, on the sidelines of the 2025 APEC Summit. This is also the first direct dialogue between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi Jinping since 2019, marking a new beginning in US-China relations after many years of tension.
On a flight to Japan – the second stop on his Asia tour, President Donald Trump Chia with reporters that Beijing had “agreed in principle” to allow a group of American investors to lease TikTok’s algorithm – an issue that has long caused tension between the two sides.
“I think we’re going to have a deal that will be successful for both countries. I don’t want to go into details because what we have today could change in the next few days,” Mr. Trump said, emphasizing that every step was carefully calculated to ensure the interests of the United States.
If the TikTok deal is completed, it would be the first major breakthrough in US-China technology cooperation during Mr Trump's second term, opening up opportunities for US tech companies to gain deeper access to Asian markets.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that within the framework of the new agreement, the two sides have made significant progress on the issue of rare earth minerals, especially Beijing's commitment to loosen export restrictions on these strategic materials - important factors in the semiconductor technology and green energy industries.
The two sides also discussed in-depth controls on the export of fentanyl, an addictive substance that has exacerbated the opioid crisis in the US. “We talked about a lot of things, from tariffs, trade, fentanyl to China’s plan to buy more agricultural products from the US,” Mr. Bessent said, suggesting the agreement was much broader in scope than the public had expected.
Previously, Mr. Trump had warned that he would impose a 100% tax on all imported goods from China from November 1, 2025 if significant progress was not made. However, with the preliminary agreement framework just reached, this risk has been temporarily removed, helping to stabilize market sentiment and restore confidence of import-export businesses.
Analysts say this move shows that President Trump is pursuing a “tough but pragmatic negotiation” strategy: using tariff pressure to force China to make concessions, but still leaving the door open for dialogue to avoid causing too much damage to the US economy.
