Trump, Xi meet for first time in six years
President Donald Trump met face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday local time in Busan, South Korea, capping off his week-long trip to Asia.
President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday and told reporters that he would cut tariffs on China.
Trump talks tariffs
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According to the Associated Press, President Donald Trump told reporters that the U.S. would lower tariffs implemented earlier this year as punishment on China for its selling of chemicals used to make fentanyl from 20% to 10%. This brings the total combined tariff rate on China down from 57% to 47%.
Trump also told reporters he could sign a trade deal with China “pretty soon.”
Ahead of his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. officials told the Associated Press that Trump did not plan to make good on a threat to enforce an extra 100% import tax on Chinese goods, and China showed signs it was willing to relax its exports on rare earths and also purchase soybeans from America, the AP noted.
In April, Trump imposed a 125% tariff on China in response to its previously imposed 84% tariffs on U.S. goods. The president simultaneously paused tariffs on most other nations for 90 days.
But when factoring in the tariff Trump slapped on China pertaining to fentanyl, America’s tariffs against China are at a whopping 145%.