The TOI correspondent from Washington: In a partial de-escalation of trade hostilities, the United States and China announced several tentative agreements on Thursday, including resumption by Beijing of global supply of rare earth elements and its purchase of US agricultural produce. The purported detente followed the first face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping in six years, held on the sidelines of the Apec summit in South Korea.On his way back to the US on Air Force One, President Trump, with his trademark hyperbole, rated the meeting a “12” out of 10, stating that an “outstanding group of decisions” were made, including a one-year unfreezing on China’s rare earth export controls which constrained supplies to the whole world, and which he expected to be renewed annually. Indicating the hard bargaining that took place, China, in turn, said the U.S. will pause its investigations targeting its maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding industries for one year, giving temporary relief to the exporting juggernaut.President Xi, clearly less effusive and more guarded than a euphoric Trump, confirmed separately through the state media a “consensus on resolving” important economic and trade issues while urging officials to follow up and refine the agreements to produce “tangible results,” suggesting residual wrinkles will need to be ironed out in follow-up talks.Illustrative also of New Delhi’s sidelining in the tariff detente because of its lack of leverage, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the matter of China buying Russian oil did not come up in talks with Xi even though they discussed ways to end the Russia-Ukraine war.“You know he’s (Xi) been buying oil from Russia for a long time. It takes care of a big part of China and you know I can say India’s been very good on that front, but, uh, we didn’t really discuss the oil… we discussed working together to see if we could get that war finished…” Trump said. The US has berated India for buying Russian oil and coerced it to taper purchase, but Trump’s remarks seemed to admit the US has no capacity to do the same to China.In fact, beneath his bravado and repeated assertions of a “great relationship” and “tremendous success,” critics noted that Trump faced a stone-faced Xi, who called for a focus on the “long-term benefits of cooperation” rather than falling into a “vicious cycle of mutual retaliation.” Delivering a straight up lecture to Trump, the Chinese leader said it is normal for the world’s two biggest economies to have differences, but they should aim to be “partners and friends” and maintain the “overall stability” of China-US relations.On his way home, Trump reeled off a long list of what he achieved at the talks – received skeptically by critics back home – including China “resuming purchase of massive amounts of Soybeans, Sorghum, and other Farm products.” He claimed China has also “agreed to continue the flow of Rare Earth, Critical Minerals, Magnets, etc., openly and freely,” while Beijing indicated it was conditionally lifting the moratorium for a year. The US President also said “China has strongly stated that they will work diligently with us to stop the flow of Fentanyl into our Country” while lifting the additional 10 per cent fentanyl-related tariffs on Beijing, even as he appeared to ease restrictions on export of advanced semi-conductor chips, leaving it for Nvidia (the top tier US company which wants to export the chips with the argument that curtailing chips to China will simply result in it developing its own) to sort it out with Beijing.Trump lashed out at critics who suggested Xi had the better of him at the talks. “Worked really hard, 24/7, took in Trillions of Dollars, and Chuck Schumer said trip was “a total dud,” even though he knows it was a spectacular success. Words like that are almost treasonous!!!” he raged on X.
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