US President Donald Trump has said he expects to strike a deal when he meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea amid a monthslong trade war with Beijing.
"We're going to be, I hope, making a deal. I think we're going to have a deal. I think it will be a good deal for both, Trump said on October 29, a day before he is set to sit down with Xi on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
A centerpiece of the October 30 in-person meeting -- the first between the two leaders since 2019 -- is how to ease the bruising trade war, with both sides putting out similar positive signals in the lead up to the high-stakes talks.
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But while Trump and Xi look poised strike a truce in the trade war, experts who spoke to RFE/RL said that reaching a lasting trade deal is unlikely and they were less optimistic that the talks would result in dialing back US-China tensions over Taiwan -- the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own territory -- or in convincing China to limit its support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscows war in Ukraine.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessentsaidthat preparatory talks ahead of the meeting have led to an agreement on a framework that includes a pause on Chinas rare-earth restrictions, the final approvals on a deal to allow popular Chinese-owned video app TikTok to continue operating in the United States, and easing other trade frictions.
Although the meeting might project an image of dtente between China and the United States, the competition is far from over, Claus Soong, an analyst at the Berlin-based think tank MERICS, told RFE/RL. Structural issues persist, and neither side is willing to back off from its core interests.
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As Trump traveled to Asia for a broader tour that also included stops in Malaysia and Japan, he told reporters that he would like Beijing to help Washington in its efforts to broker peace talks about ending the more than three-year war in Ukraine.
The US presidents efforts to facilitate a deal have so far not succeeded and Trump said that he hoped Xi could use his leverage as a leading political and economic partner for Putin to help bring the Russian leader to the negotiating table.
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In a sign of Trumps frustration, Washington levied sanctions on major Russian oil companies earlier this month, which Chinas Foreign Ministry said it opposes and had no basis in international law.
Aboard Air Force One on October 25, Trump said that Chinas purchases of Russian oil may be discussed, but also added that Beijing is limiting deliveries very substantially, an apparent reference to major state-owned Chinese oil companies beginning to pause Russian imports.
