U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday and Newsweek has rounded up five things Trump will be trying to get.
Trade Truce
Trump will be pushing for a trade truce amid a fierce trade war between the world’s two largest economies that saw the American president threaten a 100 percent tariff hike on Chinese goods this month.
On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he had come to a “very substantial framework” with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng that would avoid the measure. He said on NBC’s Meet the Press that he had laid down the groundwork for Trump and Xi to discuss trade cooperation further.
Rare Earth Concessions
The 100 percent tariff threat, which would begin on November 1, came over new Chinese export licensing rules being expanded to cover products containing even trace amounts of rare earth elements.
Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer dubbed the move a “global supply chain power grab” and Washington has raced in recent months to secure supply deals with partners, including Australia and Canada, to reduce its dependency on Beijing.
Trump will likely want to reverse the decision as part of his discussions as China controls more than two-thirds of the world’s rare earths, a group of 17 minerals vital to producing technologies such as electric vehicles and missile guidance systems.
More Soybeans Sales
Trump will likely try push China to resume buying soybeans, America’s largest agricultural exports, as it bought none in September, according to Reuters, causing possible strain for American farmers, a group that forms a part of Trump’s political base.
Progress On Cutting Fentanyl
Trump has already said he plans to lower American tariffs imposed on China over the fentanyl crisis.
“I expect to be lowering that because I believe they’re going to help us with the fentanyl situation,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday. “They’ll be doing what they can do,” he said, adding that “China is going to be working with me.”
Washington is considering reducing the tariff from 20 percent to 10 percent, The Wall Street Journal reported this week.
“China sympathizes with the American people for the suffering caused by the fentanyl crisis and has provided assistance in this regard and achieved positive results,” Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Wednesday.
Help Put Pressure On Russia
Trump has previously said he would “like China to help us out with Russia” and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is hopeful. He said on Monday that if Trump manages to “find an understanding with China about the reduction of Russian energy exports…it’ll help us all.”
It comes after Trump canceled his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and imposed sanctions on two Russian oil companies.
Trump said on Wednesday: “What I’ll really be talking to him [Xi] about is, how do we end the war with Russia and Ukraine, whether it’s through oil or energy or anything else.
“I think he’s going to be very receptive. He would now like to—I’m not sure that he did at the beginning—he would now like to see that war end. I think he can have a big influence on Putin.”