On Thursday, October 30th, leaders of the world’s two largest economies met face-to-face in Busan, South Korea. It has been over 6 years since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have sat down to discuss anything, and this time the stakes are even higher.
Key talking points included US tariffs, the TikTok transfer, and trade (specifically soybeans, silicon, and rare earths). Despite clear tensions and some drastically misaligned interests, the US and China do share common goals, not the least of which is preventing a global trade war from spiraling out of control and further damaging both economies.
President Xi expressed a desire to “continuously shorten the list of problems and lengthen the list of cooperation”, and stated that “China’s development and rejuvenation are not incompatible with President Trump’s goal of ‘Making America Great Again’.” President Trump announced an immediate 10% reduction of tariffs, and agreed to postpone a new rule regarding majority-owned Chinese subsidiaries.
Though the summit yielded few concrete agreements, the general consensus among global business leaders is one of apprehensive hopefulness. These talks were a necessary prelude to more productive negotiations. The optimistic takeaway is the simple fact that, after six years of silence, the dialogue has finally begun again.
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