China will cooperate to block the inflow of fentanyl precursors into the United States, and in return the United States will cut the "fentanyl tariff" imposed on China from 20% to 10%, U.S. President Donald Trump said. In response, China is expected to delay its rare earth export control measures for one year and resume imports of U.S. soybeans.
According to Bloomberg News and others, Trump said this when asked by reporters on the afternoon of the 30th after concluding the U.S.-China summit. The summit lasted about 1 hour and 40 minutes in the reception room at the Air Force base inside Gimhae International Airport. After the meeting, Xi moved to Gyeongju to attend the APEC summit, while Trump did not attend the APEC plenary session and headed home.
According to reports, Trump decided to lower the anti-China fentanyl tariff from 20% to 10%. He said, "China has agreed to make many efforts to prevent fentanyl from entering the United States," adding, "With this, the tariff on China has been reduced to 47%." The drug fentanyl has emerged as a U.S. social problem, and the United States has said that fentanyl precursors are entering the country from China via Mexico and Canada and that China is not cooperating in blocking fentanyl, so it has imposed a 20% fentanyl tariff.
As a quid pro quo for the U.S. tariff cut, China decided to defer for one year the rare earth export control measures it recently implemented. Expecting the rare earth export control measures to be extended every year going forward, Trump said, "Rare earths are all settled. That obstacle is now gone." Trump also said China agreed to immediately purchase U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans.
Contrary to Trump's earlier remarks, the Taiwan issue was not addressed at this summit. However, regarding the war in Ukraine, the two leaders agreed to cooperate to end the war.
Asked to rate the meeting on a scale of 1 to 10, Trump gave it a 12 and said it was "a tremendous success." He added, "We reached agreements on almost everything in a very acceptable form," and "Many decisions have been made, and there is not much left."
The two leaders last met 6 years and about 4 months ago at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019 during the first Trump administration. The latest summit is expected to lead to reciprocal visits by the two leaders. Trump said, "I plan to visit China in April next year," and Xi is also said to have conveyed his intention to visit the United States to Trump. Xi's visit to the United States is likely to be for the G20 Leaders Summit on Finanical Markets and the World Economy in Florida.