US President Donald Trump held talks with China's President Xi Jinping at a South Korean airbase on Thursday, with the leaders of the world's two largest economies announcing progress on cooling trade tensions.
The discussions in the southern port city of Busan, their first face-to-face meeting since 2019, marked the finale of Mr Trump's whirlwind Asia trip, during which he also touted trade breakthroughs with South Korea, Japan and South-East Asian nations.
Mr Trump said after the meeting that he had agreed with Mr Xi to reduce tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing cracking down on the illicit fentanyl trade, resuming US soybean purchases and keeping rare earth mineral exports flowing.
“I thought it was an amazing meeting,” Mr Trump said aboard Air Force One shortly after he left Busan. He ranked the talks as “12 out of 10”.
Mr Trump said tariffs on Chinese imports would be cut to 47 per cent from 57 per cent. In return, Mr Xi will work “very hard to stop the flow” of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that is the leading cause of American overdose deaths, the US President said. The tariff was reduced “because I believe they are really taking strong action”, he added.
China agreed to pause export controls announced this month on rare earths, elements that play vital roles in cars, planes and weapons, forming Beijing's most potent source of leverage in its trade war with the US.
The pause would last for a year, China's Commerce Ministry said in a statement, adding that the two sides had also reached consensus on fentanyl co-operation and expanding agricultural trade.
“They're not going to impose the rare earth controls,” Mr Trump said after the meeting.
Mr Xi told Mr Trump via a translator that it was normal for the two leading economies of the world to have friction.
“China's development and rejuvenation are not incompatible with President Trump's goal of ‘Making America Great Again',” the Chinese leader said.
A few days ago, trade negotiators for both countries had reached a “fundamental consensus on addressing each other's primary concerns”, Mr Xi added. “I am willing to continue working with President Trump to lay a solid foundation for China-US relations.”
The meeting, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, lasted nearly two hours. Mr Trump shook hands and escorted Mr Xi to his car before the US President was given a red carpet send-off at the airport.
Chinese stocks climbed to a decade high and the yuan currency to a near one-year peak against the dollar before the meeting, as investors hoped for an easing of trade tension that has upended supply chains and rocked global business confidence.
World stock markets from Wall Street to Tokyo have hit record highs in recent days.
Mr Trump had repeatedly talked up the prospect of reaching an agreement in his meeting with Mr Xi, after negotiators from both sides appeared to reach an understanding in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
But with the countries increasingly willing to play hardball over areas of economic and geopolitical competition, many questions remain about how long any trade detente may last.
The trade war reignited this month after Beijing proposed dramatically expanding curbs on the exports of rare-earth minerals, a sector China dominates.
Mr Trump vowed to retaliate with additional 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese exports, and with other steps including potential curbs on exports to China made with US software – moves that could have upended the global economy.
After a weekend scramble between top trade negotiators, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said before the Trump-Xi meeting that a “substantial framework” would be agreed by the two leaders.
The White House has said it hopes the summit will be the first of several between Mr Trump and Mr Xi in the coming year, including possible visits by the leaders to each country, indicating a protracted negotiation process.
But Mr Trump wants quick progress in talks being closely watched by businesses worldwide.
Mr Trump also said before the meeting that he might sign a final deal with Mr Xi on TikTok, the social media app that faces a US ban unless its Chinese owners divest its US operations.
Previous US-China trade deals, which brought down retaliatory tariffs sharply to about 55 per cent on the US side and 10 per cent on the Chinese side and restarted the flow of rare earth magnets from China, are due to expire on November 10.
Beijing has sought an easing of export controls on sensitive US technology, and an end to new US port fees on Chinese vessels aimed at tackling China's global dominance in shipbuilding, ocean freight and logistics.
During Mr Trump's Asia trip, he signed pacts with Japan and South-east Asian nations on rare earth minerals, seeking to blunt China's stranglehold.
UAE squad
Rohan Mustafa (captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan
Racecard
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Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Anti-semitic attacks
The annual report by the Community Security Trust, which advises the Jewish community on security , warned on Thursday that anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had reached a record high.
It found there had been 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 per cent from the previous year.
The report detailed the convictions of a number of people for anti-Semitic crimes, including one man who was jailed for setting up a neo-Nazi group which had encouraged “the eradication of Jewish people” and another who had posted anti-Semitic homemade videos on social media.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
End of free parking
- paid-for parking will be rolled across Abu Dhabi island on August 18
- drivers will have three working weeks leeway before fines are issued
- areas that are currently free to park - around Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Maqta Bridge, Mussaffah Bridge and the Corniche - will now require a ticket
- villa residents will need a permit to park outside their home. One vehicle is Dh800 and a second is Dh1,200.
- The penalty for failing to pay for a ticket after 10 minutes will be Dh200
- Parking on a patch of sand will incur a fine of Dh300
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S23%20ULTRA
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Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
RIDE%20ON
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Champions parade (UAE timings)
7pm Gates open
8pm Deansgate stage showing starts
9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral
9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street
10pm City players on stage
11pm event ends
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
MATCH INFO
BRIGHTON 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 3
McTominay 44'
Mata 73'
Pogba 80'
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
Everything Now
Arcade Fire
(Columbia Records)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
Disability on screen
Empire — neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis; bipolar disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Rosewood and Transparent — heart issues
24: Legacy — PTSD;
Superstore and NCIS: New Orleans — wheelchair-bound
Taken and This Is Us — cancer
Trial & Error — cognitive disorder prosopagnosia (facial blindness and dyslexia)
Grey’s Anatomy — prosthetic leg
Scorpion — obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety
Switched at Birth — deafness
One Mississippi, Wentworth and Transparent — double mastectomy
Dragons — double amputee
