US President Donald Trump's long-awaited meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping could bring an end to months of global economic chaos caused by the US-China trade war. The two leaders have not met in person since 2019, and their relationship has been strained due to issues such as China's technological advances and the imbalanced US-China trade relationship.
The stakes are high, with rare earths a key area of focus for Beijing. China controls about 70% of the world's mining and processing capacity for these critical minerals, which are vital for industries ranging from car manufacturing to military equipment. The US has been trying to reduce its reliance on China for these commodities, signing agreements with Japan and other countries to secure their supply.
However, Trump appears to be hedging his bets, as revealed by the recent agreement between the US and Japan to secure the mining and processing of rare earths and other minerals. This move may be seen as a sign that the US is trying to reduce its reliance on China for these critical commodities.
On the other hand, China has been actively seeking to reduce its reliance on the US, signing an upgrade to its free trade agreement with the Asean bloc of Southeast Asian countries, which collectively are China's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade between China and Asean totalled $771bn (£580bn) last year, compared to $659bn (£496bn) in US-China trade.
The two leaders will also discuss issues such as fentanyl control and finalize the TikTok deal that was agreed in Madrid. However, apart from these specifics, the biggest progress at this week's summit will be to underline the potential for constructive talks between the world's two most powerful men.
Trump has defied hawks in Washington to strike a relatively conciliatory tone with Xi, who is "confident in his ability to manage Trump at this particular juncture", according to analysts. The US president has acknowledged that both leaders see themselves and their countries as being in a strong position, but also recognizes the need to avoid a return to the very high tariffs that they threatened each other with earlier this year.
The talks have been seen as a chance to reset the relationship between Washington and Beijing, which has been strained due to issues such as China's technological advances and the imbalanced US-China trade relationship. The meeting could bring an end to months of global economic chaos caused by the US-China trade war, but it remains to be seen whether these talks will yield concrete results.
The stakes are high, with rare earths a key area of focus for Beijing. China controls about 70% of the world's mining and processing capacity for these critical minerals, which are vital for industries ranging from car manufacturing to military equipment. The US has been trying to reduce its reliance on China for these commodities, signing agreements with Japan and other countries to secure their supply.
However, Trump appears to be hedging his bets, as revealed by the recent agreement between the US and Japan to secure the mining and processing of rare earths and other minerals. This move may be seen as a sign that the US is trying to reduce its reliance on China for these critical commodities.
On the other hand, China has been actively seeking to reduce its reliance on the US, signing an upgrade to its free trade agreement with the Asean bloc of Southeast Asian countries, which collectively are China's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade between China and Asean totalled $771bn (£580bn) last year, compared to $659bn (£496bn) in US-China trade.
The two leaders will also discuss issues such as fentanyl control and finalize the TikTok deal that was agreed in Madrid. However, apart from these specifics, the biggest progress at this week's summit will be to underline the potential for constructive talks between the world's two most powerful men.
Trump has defied hawks in Washington to strike a relatively conciliatory tone with Xi, who is "confident in his ability to manage Trump at this particular juncture", according to analysts. The US president has acknowledged that both leaders see themselves and their countries as being in a strong position, but also recognizes the need to avoid a return to the very high tariffs that they threatened each other with earlier this year.
The talks have been seen as a chance to reset the relationship between Washington and Beijing, which has been strained due to issues such as China's technological advances and the imbalanced US-China trade relationship. The meeting could bring an end to months of global economic chaos caused by the US-China trade war, but it remains to be seen whether these talks will yield concrete results.
I'm kinda thinking that if Trump & Xi can find some middle ground on trade & tech stuff, maybe we won't see another 2018-19-style meltdown 
. It's crazy how much global economies rely on US-China trade 
. Rare earths are a big deal, but what about the long-term implications of reducing reliance on each other? Japan's new agreement with the US is a good sign, though 
. Still, I'm not holding my breath for concrete results outta these talks 
. What if they just talk around the real issues & keep playing diplomatic poker instead? 
this is like a super long time coming lol US & China have been at each other's throats over trade & tech for ages and now trump is finally meeting xi it's gonna be super interesting to see what kinda agreements they come up with esp since china's got like 70% of the world's rare earths 
if they can hammer out a deal on that then maybe we'll see some real progress on reducing tariffs & all that jazz 
it's crazy how much the world has changed since then (or not really). 
i mean, on one hand, china's been trying to diversify its trade partners and secure rare earths from other countries, which is cool, but also kinda concerning for the rest of us. 
like, what happens when we can't rely on anyone? 
still, it's good that they're having these talks and maybe, just maybe, we'll get some progress on some of the more pressing issues between the two countries. 
fingers crossed! 
finally some progress after all these years! i've been following this trade war for ages and it's been really stressful for the global economy, so to see both sides trying to find common ground is super refreshing 
plus the fact that they're discussing tiktok and fentanyl control shows that there are still some areas where we can actually agree 
i'm not gonna lie i was a bit skeptical about trump's chances of having a good relationship with xi, but it looks like he's trying to be more diplomatic and not let all the hawk in washington get to him 
fingers crossed this meeting leads to some real change!
so if us & china can come to some kinda agreement, it could bring an end to the global economic chaos 
that's been caused by their trade war 
and tiktok deal 
btw did u know that china's largest trading partner is asean bloc of southeast asian countries? 
$771bn in bilateral trade last year vs $659bn in us-china trade 
its a big move for china to sign upgrade to free trade agreement with ASEAN 
and btw 70% of rare earths being controlled by China kinda sounds like a recipe for disaster 
how's the US gonna get out of this one? Japan can only hold Trump's hand so much before he starts flailing around again 
my old one was like ancient history lol i wonder if china can actually help reduce the reliance on their rare earths or if they're just going to sell it all to someone else 
.
. The global economic chaos caused by the trade war has been real, so I'm all for finding a way out of this mess 
. But let's not get too optimistic just yet – there's still a long way to go before we see any real progress 
.