TOKYO — President Trump predicted a “successful transaction” ahead of his Thursday meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping — after negotiators from both countries drafted a framework for a trade agreement to avert Trump’s threatened 100% additional tariff on Chinese goods.
“I think we’re gonna have a successful transaction for both countries,” Trump, 79, told reporters as he flew to Japan for the second stop on his three nation tour of Asia, which will conclude in South Korea with the Xi summit meeting.
Trump said the final details are subject to change and “I don’t want to tell you what the understanding is, because what we understood yesterday or two days ago or even today is not going to be necessarily what it’s going to be in two days.”
Trump briefed reporters in the press cabin of the presidential jet with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer standing nearby.
The tentative framework addresses core areas of dispute in the US-China relationship, Bessent told reporters, including Beijing’s new export restrictions on products made with rare-earth and critical minerals, which prompted Trump’s threat to ratchet up tariffs on Chinese exports.
“We have a framework for President Trump and President Xi to decide on. We discussed a wide range of things from tariffs to trade, fentanyl, a substantial purchase of US agricultural products and rare earths,” Bessent said.
“We feel good,” Trump said, jokingly adding in apparent reference to a reporter, “I feel better that this guy’s got nice, broad shoulders. If the plane makes a big turn or something, I’m grabbing his shoulder.”
Trump said that a finalization of China’s agreement to lease Tiktok’s algorithm by a consortium of primarily American investors may also happen Thursday.
“We got an original approval from President Xi. I expect we’ll have an approval, but I’d rather wait till a couple of days to let you know that,” Trump said.
Trump told a Post reporter Thursday that “the first question I’m going to be asking [Xi] about is fentanyl,” which has killed nearly 330,000 Americans over the past five years according to federal data, prompting Trump to impose a 20% tariff in February.
“[China is] paying right now a 20% tariff because of fentanyl. That’s billions and billions of dollars that they’re paying. On November 1, the tariff on China goes to 157% which is record setting territory. And we don’t want that, because it’s not sustainable for them,” Trump said.
“They make $100 million selling fentanyl into our country — $100 million. They lose $100 billion with the 20% tariff. So it’s not a good business proposition.”
Trump voiced confidence Monday about a grand agreement with Xi after inking four trade deals Sunday on the sidelines of the ASEAN conference of Southeast Asian countries in Kuala Lumpur on the first stop of his Asia tour.
Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam will gain new tariff reductions for certain products in exchange for pledges to buy American goods, make investments in the US and scrap their import restrictions.
As the president was formalizing those arrangements, Chinese and US negotiators were also meeting in the Malaysian capital to draft up a framework for the upcoming summit.
