US President Donald Trump announced, on Thursday, that he had reached, in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, a renewable one-year agreement on the supply of vital rare minerals.
Trump added to reporters on Air Force One: “An agreement has been reached on all rare earth elements, and this concerns the entire world,” noting that the agreement is valid for a year and will be renegotiated annually.
The US President left South Korea after completing talks that lasted about an hour and 40 minutes with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, without issuing any statement to the press about whether progress had been made.
Trump headed directly to Air Force One after his first face-to-face meeting with Xi in 6 years, which was held in Busan, South Korea.
The US President had said before the meeting that he expected a “successful meeting” with the “strong negotiator” Xi Jinping during their meeting in the South Korean city of Busan.
For his part, the Chinese President responded to his American counterpart, saying that although their two countries do not always agree in viewpoints, they must strive to be “partners and friends.”
“China and the United States can jointly shoulder responsibility as two great powers, and work together to accomplish more great and tangible things for the benefit of our two countries and the world,” Xi said at the beginning of the talks in Busan.
