Overview
- At their first in-person meeting since 2019, held in Busan on October 30, the leaders agreed to postpone certain U.S. export controls and pause further escalation.
- Beijing will hold off on newly announced rare-earth export controls and resume large purchases of U.S. soybeans, with reports citing a pledge of at least 25 million tons annually.
- Trump said he will cut the fentanyl-linked tariff to 10%, lowering the stated average U.S. tariff on Chinese imports to 47%.
- Taiwan was not discussed, and there were no settled terms on advanced chips, TikTok or enforcement mechanisms, reinforcing analysts’ caution about unwritten commitments.
- Separately at APEC, Xi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared a ‘turning point’ and set officials to tackle trade irritants, though no immediate tariff relief was secured for Canadian canola, seafood or EV-related measures.