Busan/Beijing
—
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump have begun landmark talks in South Korea that could reset the volatile relationship between the world’s two largest economies and rival superpowers.
The two leaders exchanged warm words as the first summit in six years began at an air base in the coastal city of Busan, close to the venue for the international summit.
Trump praised Xi as a “great leader of a great country” and said he thought the two countries “will have a great relationship for a long time,” while the Chinese leader said he was “very happy” to meet Trump for the first time in years.
“We don’t always agree with each other. It’s normal for our two countries, the world’s major economic powers, to have friction from time to time…You and I, who are at the helm of China-US relations, should take the right path,” Xi said, adding that the two countries could “prosper together.”
The world is watching to see whether the two leaders will be able to stabilize the fractious relationship between the two countries during the meeting, which concludes the US president’s five-day trip to three countries.
A retaliation of tariffs, export controls and other penalties in areas ranging from high-tech goods to high-sea shipping has roiled the global economy for months, as the United States and China oscillate between escalation and negotiation.
At the heart of these tensions are severe trade imbalances and U.S. efforts to ensure national security against an increasingly assertive China, including expanding restrictions on China’s access to advanced U.S. technologies, such as the advanced semiconductors needed to power AI.
A variety of thorny issues are on the table for the two leaders as they meet at Gimhae Air Base in Busan, including tariffs and their trade imbalance, China’s extensive export restrictions on rare earths, U.S. restrictions on China’s access to U.S. high technology, and China’s role in the illegal fentanyl trade.
China’s purchase of U.S. soybeans, the future of the popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok in the U.S., the war in Ukraine, and Taiwan are also likely to be on the leaders’ table during the talks.
A meeting between U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators over the weekend suggested that President Trump and Mr. Xi may agree on a framework for a successful future relationship, but any agreement reached would be just one test in a messy and unstable great power conflict between the world’s democratic superpowers and authoritarian China, which under Mr. Xi is increasingly asserting its military assertiveness in the East and South China Seas. China is increasing its military assertiveness in the East and South China Seas, unsettling U.S. allies in the region.
But both countries see summit-level talks as key to stabilizing relations as they continue to grapple with how to build economic ties.
The outcome of Thursday’s meeting would be a boon for China, which seeks predictability in its relationship with the United States even as it races towards American high-tech self-sufficiency, and for President Trump, whose meeting with Mr. Xi marks a high-profile finale for what has already been a deal-building blitz across Asia.
