'Join hands instead of letting go': Xi Jinping on trade after tariff-slashing deal with Donald Trump
Chinese President Xi Jinping was speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on Friday in South Korea’s Gyeongju.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for safeguarding multilateral trade and warned against “breaking supply chains” in his first public address after his meeting with US President Donald Trump, which led to a one-year deal on the supply of crucial rare earths.
The Chinese leader was speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on Friday in South Korea’s Gyeongju.
Xi said that trade should “actively seek more points of convergence of interests and support the opening up and development of supply chains,” according to a Bloomberg report. He added, “We must adhere to the principle of joining hands rather than letting go, and extending rather than breaking supply chains,” and urged the member nations gathered at the summit to practice “genuine multilateralism.”
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Xi-Trump meeting
His remarks come a day after he sealed a deal with Trump that led the US to slash some tariffs and export controls, and China to agree to buy US soybeans and pause fresh rare earth curbs. Notably, Trump described his meeting with Xi as “amazing,” while the Chinese leader said that dialogue is always better than confrontation.
Beijing said that the deal also involved a US commitment to postpone a new measure for a year that would have prevented thousands of Chinese firms from accessing US technology if they are partly owned by a sanctioned company, a move that China strongly opposed.
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Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Trump said he would visit China in April and that Xi Jinping would visit the US afterwards. "I'll be going to China in April and he'll be coming here sometime after that, whether it's in Florida, Palm Beach or Washington, DC," he said.
Trump also said that China had agreed not to tighten restrictions on exports of rare earths or the technology and equipment used to process them. He had previously threatened a 100% import tax over China’s rare earth restrictions.
Meanwhile, Xi said the teams should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to achieve results that will provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world.
