On Thursday morning local time, President Trump held a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Gimhae Air Base in Busan, South Korea. Investors are still waiting for more details from the meeting, causing a relatively subdued market reaction. However, some market analysts and investors have commented on the Trump-Xi meeting.
The meeting between Trump and Xi lasted about 1 hour 40 minutes, after which both leaders left in their respective vehicles. Members of the U.S. delegation followed Trump with smiles on their faces, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick even gave a thumbs up.
On Air Force One, Trump told reporters that he and Xi “reached consensus on many issues,” but he did not announce any trade agreements. He mentioned that China had just resumed purchasing soybeans after months of boycotting American soybeans and that they would buy “a large amount of soybeans and other agricultural products.”
The President also stated that China would “not set any barriers” and would not impose any restrictions on rare earth exports, postponing export controls by a year.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed that China had resumed buying American soybeans after a pause due to trade tensions. Rollins posted on X platform, saying, “This is a good start, and we will continue to build a system that allows American agriculture to thrive and compete fairly.”
She also added that China had purchased “multiple shipments” of American soybeans, which she called a positive development for American farmers.
Trump announced that he agreed to reduce tariffs on China by 10%, bringing the total tariffs on Chinese goods down to 47%.
According to reports by Reuters, several analysts have provided early comments on the “Trump-Xi meeting.”
Tareck Horchani, Head of the Securities Trading Department at Malaya Bank in Singapore, said, “The US-China trade truce is likely to be seen as a rebound to ease pressure rather than a structural adjustment. When such truces happen, one of the areas both sides focus on first is agriculture, which is a politically sensitive area in the US, where farmers are an important political force.”
“In general, this seems more like a tactical pause than a strategic breakthrough. Potential tensions in technology, supply chains, and rare earths remain unresolved,” he said.
Dickie Wong, Head of Research at Kingston Securities in Hong Kong, stated, “I believe that there are no significant optimistic expectations for both the market and US-China negotiations at the moment.”
“The problems persist – after the meeting, will the two countries truly issue a joint statement, followed by the US lifting all tariffs on China, lifting technical restrictions, and China resuming rare earth exports? I think the likelihood of this happening is very slim,” Wong said.
He noted, “The market has already digested most of the positive factors, and there may be a ‘flash in the pan’ scenario.”
Muhammad Saifuddin Bin Sapuan, an economist at Kenanga Investment Bank in Kuala Lumpur, said, “I believe this is just a strategic pause, not a structural shift, and both sides may be aiming to ease tensions. In the short term, this truce will help stabilize global sentiment and trade expectations, thereby alleviating pressure on global demand and supply chains.”
“However, we still believe that the structural dislocation between China and the US will continue to affect long-term prospects,” he added.