Donald Trump slashes tariffs on China by 10 percent after Xi Jinping meet, announces end to 'rare earth' war

Trump said this after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea on the sidelines of the APEC Summit 2025.

"...On Fentanyl, we agreed that he was going to work very hard to stop the flow... I've agreed, as you know, I put a 20% tariff on China because of the Fentanyl coming in, which is a big tariff and based on his statements today, I reduced it by 10%. So it's 10% instead of 20 percent effective immediately," the President said.

Adding to this, Trump said the issue over US access to "rare earth" has been resolved.

Though Trump called his meeting with Xi "a great success", Beijing is yet to issue an official statement on what has transpired in the high intensity bilateral meeting where the entire world had kept on focus. 

"But he (Xi Jinping) is a very tough negotiator, that's not good," Trump, who met Xi after six years, said jokingly prior to the meeting.

"We know each other well. We have a great understanding. We have and always had a great relationship," the President added.

The meeting was held amid escalating trade frictions and global economic uncertainty, making it a high-stakes engagement watched closely by markets worldwide.

The last face-to-face meeting between the two leaders occurred during Trump’s first term (2016-2020).

Tensions escalated earlier this month after Beijing proposed sweeping restrictions on rare-earth exports, critical for high-tech and defense products.

Trump retaliated with threats of 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods and restrictions on products made using US software, sparking concerns that global supply chains could be disrupted.