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By : Cantona Joseph|RFA

• US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have met in South Korea – leading to a series of announcements on closer trade ties
• On the way back to Washington, Trump says the meeting was a 12 out of 10 – Beijing says the results were “hard-won”
• The US will cut the “fentanyl tariff” on Chinese goods entering the US from 20% to 10%, Trump says
• In return, China will start “the purchase of massive amounts of soybeans” and other farm products”, according to the US president
• China says will make it easier for the US to buy rare earths – we explain what they are here
• In return, China says, the US will suspend an expansion of export controls on foreign firms listed on the Entity List, which had hit Chinese companies
• Trump says a US-China trade deal could be signed “pretty soon” – but there is no ink on paper, and that is the crucial part right now

What we know so far about Trump and Xi’s meeting – in 200 wordspublished at 15:2615:26

Overnight, US President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea – a breakthrough after months of trade tension and tariff increases.

Here’s what we know – in 200 words:

Why does this matter?

The US and China have been imposing tit-for-tat tariff increases on each other throughout the year. At one point, both sides had imposed rates of over 100%, leaving manufacturers and importers uncertain.

What did China agree to?

China says it will suspend the “implementation” of export control measures for a year.

Meanwhile Trump says China will buy large amounts of soybeans from US farmers – restarting trade after Beijing halted purchases earlier this year.

What did the US agree to?

Trump says the US will reduce tariffs that were introduced over the country’s perceived failure to clamp down on the flow of ingredients used in making fentanyl to the US.

He says he’ll decrease it from 20% to 10%.

What don’t we know?

No deal was signed today, but Trump says one is coming “pretty soon”. Meanwhile China said the US should “follow up” on discussions.

The exact details of a potential deal are still unknown.

China has indicated that the US said it’d suspend some export controls that were hitting Chinese firms – but we’ve not had US confirmation yet.

And there’s still no answer on how Chinese-owned TikTok could operate in the US under American ownership.

A China policy analyst says that both Trump and Xi “secured what they needed domestically” out of their meeting.

Stefanie Kam, an analyst at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, says the meeting today “was a reminder that even amid rivalry between great powers, pragmatism grounded in national interest can pave the way for meaningful engagement”.

US and Chinese officials have already hammered out much of the trade negotiations before today, from tariffs to fentanyl – two big sore spots in the ongoing bilateral tensions.

But what’s new, and where Trump and Xi have “left their personal imprint”, says Dr Kam, are the discussions about Beijing holding talks with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, as well as their cooperation on resolving the war in Ukraine.

No clarity on TikTok after Trump-Xi meetingpublished at 13:3113:31

Trump and Xi’s talks failed to produce a resolution on the fate of Chinese-owned TikTok being able to operate in the US.

The US president, who has taken a keen interest in the social media app’s future, did not mention it in his remarks or social media post after the meeting.

The app was briefly mentioned in the statement released by the Chinese side, which said simply: “China will work with the US to properly resolve issues related to TikTok.”

The White House wants the US arm of the firm to be sold off from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, citing national security concerns.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week that a deal had been agreed, with Trump and Xi left to “consummate that transaction on Thursday”.

Trump signed an executive order last month to approve a proposal that would allow TikTok to continue running in the US under American ownership – but today’s meeting passed without any sort of concrete announcement on progress.

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