President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to kick off high-stakes talks amid their ongoing trade dispute and geopolitical tensions.
Trump and Xi are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan, South Korea, in what will be their first in-person meeting since Trump’s first term. The meeting is expected to begin in the morning hours local time on Thursday, or Wednesday night in the U.S.
Trump has expressed optimism about securing a deal with China even as the trade dispute has escalated with the two sides trying to exert leverage over the other in an eventual deal.
As Trump and Xi prepare to hold discussions over the economic relationship between the two geopolitical rivals they lead, here’s a look at some of the key topics that they may discuss.
AMERICAN SOYBEAN FARMERS FACE FINANCIAL CRISIS AS CHINA TRADE DISPUTE THREATENS LIVELIHOODS
Soybeans
China halted purchases of U.S. soybeans earlier this year in retaliation for the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese exports, and instead pivoted to buying soybeans from South America.
The move cut off American farmers from the world’s largest importer of soybeans and a market in which they were China’s primary supplier of soybeans dating back to before Trump’s first term. Soybean farmers are in a critical period for marketing their crop, and a failure to resolve the dispute would leave them struggling to find alternative buyers and taking a financial hit.
Ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting, Reuters reported that a Chinese state-owned firm moved forward with the first purchase of U.S. soybeans from China in months, though the two trade sources told the outlet that they don’t expect a significant rise in demand for U.S. soybeans following China’s purchases from South America.
TRUMP, AUSTRALIA PM SIGN $8.5B CRITICAL MINERALS DELA TO COUNTER CHINA DOMINANCE IN RARE EARTHS
Fentanyl
Trump said Wednesday that he expects that he will reduce tariffs on Chinese goods if China commits to curbing the flow of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is the leading cause of U.S. overdose deaths in recent years.
The president imposed 20% tariffs on China over fentanyl earlier this year and also imposed them on Canada and Mexico, arguing that the precursor chemicals are shipped through those countries.
CHINA RESPONDS TO US-AUSTRALIA RARE EARTHS DEAL
Rare earths
The Chinese government recently moved to implement tougher export controls on rare earth minerals, which are used in a variety of high-tech applications, ranging from smartphones and electric vehicle batteries to military radars and cruise missiles.
China is the world’s leading producer of rare earths and has the largest reserves, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS found that in 2024, China’s mines produced 270,000 tons of rare earths and the country has 44 million tons of reserves.
The U.S. and Australia recently announced an agreement to cooperate on developing rare earths in response to China’s move. The two governments agreed to each invest $1 billion in mining and processing projects in the next six months, as well as to cut permits for mines, processing facilities and related operations.
OIL PRICES SURGE AS TRUMP HITS RUSSIAN ENERGY GIANTS WITH SWEEPING NEW SANCTIONS
Russian oil and energy
Last week, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Russian oil companies over their role in funding Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has become the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.
The sanctions – which are aimed mainly at China and India as key energy clients of Russia – give companies until Nov. 1 to cut their transactions with Russian oil producers or face losing access to the Western banking system.
Major Chinese state oil companies, including PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC and Zhenhua Oil moved to halt purchases of Russian seaborne oil at least temporarily, in response to the sanctions.
TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER ALLOWING TIKTOK DEAL TO PROCEED
TikTok
Trump said that he may be able to sign a final deal with Xi that allows TikTok, the short-form video platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance, to separate its U.S. operations from ByteDance in a transaction valued around $14 billion.
The president signed an executive order late last month to allow the deal to proceed, though the U.S. and Chinese governments hadn’t finalized the agreement that would allow the transaction to proceed.
Last year, Congress enacted a law that banned TikTok and other apps, which are subject to the control of adversarial foreign governments like China’s, over concerns about data security and the use of the platforms’ algorithms for foreign influence operations. It allowed for them to be divested from foreign ownership to remain available to U.S. users.
The law took effect on Jan. 19, 2025, after it survived a Supreme Court challenge and allowed a 90-day extension, though the president signed multiple 75-day extensions to conclude the deal.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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