US President Donald Trump Expects ‘Great Deal’ With China During APEC Summit

Gyeongju: US President Donald Trump said he expected to seal a 'great deal' with China at his high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Al Jazeera reported.

In a wide-ranging and rambling speech on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Wednesday, Trump said the expected trade deal would be good for both countries and "something very exciting for everybody".

"That's really a great result. That's better than fighting and going through all sorts of problems," Trump said in an address to a business luncheon on the sidelines of the APEC gathering in Gyeongju, as per Al Jazeera.

"No reason for it," he added.

Trump is scheduled to meet Xi on Thursday in the coastal city of Busan, about 85 kilometres south of Gyeongju, in their first face-to-face encounter since the US president launched his second trade war with China.

Trump, who is on the final leg of a six-day visit to Asia, last met Xi in 2019 on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

Trump, who arrived in South Korea after stops in Japan and Malaysia, did not provide details of the anticipated agreement.

However, speaking on Air Force One earlier on Wednesday, Trump said he expected the agreement to solve "a lot of problems" and include lower tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Beijing taking steps to curb the production of fentanyl.

Trump has imposed a 20 per cent tariff on Chinese goods over what he claims is Beijing's failure to crack down on the flow of chemicals used in making the deadly opioid, as per Al Jazeera.

US officials have previously indicated that a deal is likely to include the deferral of China's planned export controls on rare earth minerals and an additional 100 per cent US tariff on Chinese goods, along with a commitment by Beijing to buy more US agricultural products.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday confirmed that Xi would meet Trump, but did not specifically refer to the deal, as reported by Al Jazeera.

"At this meeting, the two leaders will have in-depth communication on strategic, long-term issues related to China-US relations and major issues of common concern," spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular media briefing.

(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)