President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed “broader economic and strategic issues” during the world leaders’ historic meeting in South Korea, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday on “Mornings with Maria” on FOX Business.
“President Trump is commanding respect around the world like no other leader,” Bessent said, praising the success of the meeting.
Bessent said he had spent two days of “very tough” negotiations with China’s vice premier in Malaysia earlier in the week, which likely helped the situation.
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“President Xi walked into the room and said, ‘I think we can agree on the consensus reached in Malaysia,’ so the two leaders were able to discuss more bigger picture ideas during the conversation, including what the remainder of President Trump’s term will look like.”
Bessent told host Maria Bartiromo that China views Trump’s return to office as an opportunity to reset relations with the United States on a foundation of “mutual respect and economic balance.”
Trump said Thursday he will reduce tariffs on Chinese imports following the highly anticipated meeting with Xi, citing new agreements on fentanyl enforcement, farm trade and a one-year pause on rare-earth export restrictions.
“I believe he’s going to work very hard to stop the death that’s coming in,” Trump said of Xi.
Bessent elaborated on the rare-earth issue, saying China unexpectedly backed away from new export controls after Trump’s team secured a one-year pause in exchange for U.S. trade concessions.
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“It was China versus the world, and we were able to negotiate a one-year pause on that in return for some things that the Chinese wanted,” he explained.
Bessent said President Trump was also able to negotiate with President Xi an agreement to start working on ending the “terrible” fentanyl crisis that is affecting the United States.
“And what is China’s part in that? Their precursor chemicals for fentanyl are shipped from China to Canada, to Mexico. They make their way into the U.S. and are killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens and ruining families and lives for decades to come,” he said.
A senior administration official later clarified that both leaders agreed to revisit the rare-earth agreement next year and said the arrangement could be extended beyond the one-year pause.
Bessent said the Asia trip could ultimately result in as much as $2 trillion in new investment into the United States.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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