Trump says he expects trade and nuclear deals with China during Seoul visit
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he expects to strike a series of agreements with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their upcoming meeting in South Korea, covering trade, agriculture, and even nuclear arms control.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Trump said he believes the talks could lead to renewed Chinese purchases of American soybeans — a key demand from US farmers — and potentially a broader discussion on reducing nuclear weapons. He also indicated that he would press Xi on Beijing’s growing oil trade with Russia and explore ways to help end the war in Ukraine.
“I think we’ll make a deal,” Trump said, expressing optimism about a shift in Xi’s stance on the Ukraine conflict. “He would now like — I’m not sure he did at the beginning — he would now like that war to end,” Trump told reporters while meeting NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
The president’s tone was notably softer than that of his trade and finance officials, who departed for Asia earlier in the day to prepare the groundwork for what will be Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with Xi since beginning his second term.
Trump brushed off China’s recent export restrictions on rare earth magnets, which have shaken global markets, calling the move “a disturbance” and insisting that tariffs remain “a much more powerful issue.”
Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing — the world’s two largest economies — have intensified in recent weeks. After months of relative calm, Trump reimposed steep tariffs of up to 100% on Chinese goods set to take effect November 1, following China’s announcement of new curbs on rare earth exports.
Trump also hinted that nuclear arms control could emerge as a key topic in his discussions with Xi. He noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had recently expressed openness to a bilateral nuclear de-escalation initiative, which Trump suggested could be expanded to include China for the first time.
Analysts say the meeting in Seoul could serve as a major test of Trump’s ability to balance his tough trade stance with a desire to reduce global tensions, particularly amid growing concerns over the economic fallout from the renewed US-China tariff war.
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