Trump, Xi expected to reach deal to avert new tariffs: US treasury secretary

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to strike a deal to prevent the imposition of new 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday, 26 October, signalling a possible breakthrough in strained trade relations between the world’s two largest economies.

Speaking to NBC News’ Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, Bessent said Beijing appeared ready to finalise an agreement after two days of negotiations with senior Chinese officials.

He added that a “framework” had been established for a meeting between Trump and Xi later this week, aimed at averting the harsher tariffs threatened by Washington from 1 November, should China proceed with restrictions on rare earth mineral exports.

The talks, if successful, could mark a significant easing of trade tensions that have unsettled markets and clouded diplomatic ties since the Trump administration’s tariff threats began earlier this year.

“I’m also anticipating that we will get some kind of deferral on the rare earth export controls that the Chinese had discussed,” Bessent said, noting that China holds a near-monopoly over the global supply and processing of rare earth minerals — vital components in electronics and defence technologies.

Bessent said Trump’s tariff threat had given US negotiators “a great deal of leverage” in discussions with Beijing. “I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework that will avoid the 100 per cent tariffs and allow us to discuss many other things with the Chinese,” he added.

Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for the ASEAN Summit, the first stop on a five-day Asia tour expected to culminate in a face-to-face meeting with Xi in South Korea on Thursday.

Bessent later told NBC News that Trump was also expected to visit Beijing early next year, just before the Lunar New Year on 17 February, and that a follow-up meeting in Washington or at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort could take place ahead of Xi’s planned visit to the United States for the G20 Summit next autumn

Among the key topics expected to feature in the upcoming talks are trade, agricultural imports, and the US opioid crisis. Trump has said he plans to raise the issue of fentanyl, accusing China of failing to curb the export of precursor chemicals used to manufacture the deadly synthetic opioid.

“I think we will be able to discuss them helping us get this terrible fentanyl crisis under control,” Bessent said, adding that Beijing may also agree to increase soybean and agricultural imports from the United States.

Following the weekend talks in Malaysia, China’s top trade negotiator Li Chenggang confirmed that the two sides had reached a preliminary consensus on several issues, including an extension of the existing trade truce, fentanyl control measures, and export regulations. Li and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with a US delegation led by Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Trump struck an optimistic note after the discussions. “I think we’re going to have a deal with China,” he told reporters, confirming that both sides had agreed to hold meetings in China and later in the United States.

“We’ve agreed to meet — we’re going to meet them later in China, and we’re going to meet in the US, in either Washington or at Mar-a-Lago,” he said.

The apparent thaw in US–China relations comes amid growing concerns about global trade disruptions, with both governments under pressure to stabilise markets ahead of a critical election year in the United States.

With IANS inputs