Overview
- Leaders met for roughly 100–110 minutes at Busan’s Gimhae Air Base, exchanging cordial remarks alongside senior aides including Marco Rubio, Wang Yi, Scott Bessent and He Lifeng.
- No comprehensive agreement was announced, with some outlets reporting a planned resumption of U.S. soybean purchases and a U.S. cut of a 20% tariff to 10% while others reported no concrete commercial pact.
- The session followed Kuala Lumpur talks where negotiators described a preliminary framework that eased immediate escalation and pointed to more work on tariffs and export controls.
- U.S. signals before and around the meeting included a possible reduction of fentanyl‑linked tariffs, while Chinese signals referenced flexibility on rare‑earth export controls and potential agricultural buys, none uniformly confirmed.
- Xi proceeded to the APEC host city of Gyeongju as Trump departed for Washington, capping a meeting aimed at stabilizing ties after months of tariff hikes, port fees and technology restrictions.