On October 30th 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for the first time since 2019 at an approximately one and forty minute summit meeting held in Busan, South Korea. Trump declared it an outstanding success rating it as 12 out of 10. These discussions lead to an agreement meant to ease ongoing trade tensions between their nations.

Key Results of the Summit

The Agreement covers several critical points:

Tariff Reductions: The United States agreed to lower tariffs on Chinese goods from 57% to 47%, including reducing from 20% to 10% the 20% tariff imposed on products related to fentanyl use.
China recently pledged to purchase 25 million metric tons annually of U.S. soybeans over the next three years, signaling an abrupt reversal from previous reductions in agricultural imports.
China Resuming Export Restrictions on Rare Earth Minerals for at Least One Year According to Time News Service (TT), China recently agreed to temporarily lift recent export restrictions on rare earth minerals for at least one year in order to provide continued access.
Fentanyl Trafficking: China pledged to intensify efforts to limit illicit fentanyl and its precursors from entering the US market.
Politico
Energy Trade: Talks included exploring China’s potential purchase of significant quantities of U.S. LNG with an eye towards energy cooperation.
Sky News
Unresolved Issues and Skepticism:

Although optimistic in tone, several key issues remain unaddressed:

Semiconductor Exports: No details were offered about advanced semiconductor chip exports to China from companies like Nvidia; leaving this area of contention unresolved.
Structural Economic Reforms: Core issues such as China’s industrial policies, overcapacity in manufacturing facilities and export-led growth model were left out of discussions, raising doubts as to its long-term effectiveness.
Geopolitical Tensions: Notably absent from the agenda were sensitive topics such as Taiwan and Ukraine’s war, which may indicate areas in which mutual understanding still remains difficult to come by. The Washington Post
Regarding The Summit While the summit has temporarily eased trade tensions, its failure to result in a binding and comprehensive agreement leaves room for future disputes. Instead, the framework serves as more of a tactical truce, leaving both nations maintaining leverage to engage in future negotiations. Meanwhile, international observers remain vigilant as its results could have significant ramifications on global economic dynamics.

Conclusion The Trump-Xi summit in Busan represented a significant step toward de-escalating U.S.-China relations. Unfortunately, due to key unresolved issues at this meeting, its impact as an effective diplomatic tactic remains uncertain while progress towards an agreeable trade deal remains uncertain.