Trump, Xi Revive ‘Fantastic Friendship’ at High-Stakes Busan Meeting

Busan (South Korea): U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping as “a great leader of a great country,” describing their renewed engagement as the revival of a “fantastic friendship.” The remarks came during their much-anticipated bilateral meeting held at a South Korean air base in Busan, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

“It’s a great honour to be with a friend of mine — the very, very distinguished and respected President of China,” Trump said. “We’ve already agreed to a lot of things, and we’ll agree to some more right now. President Xi is a great leader of a great country, and I think we’re going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time.”

Responding warmly, President Xi Jinping expressed his pleasure at meeting Trump again after several years. “President Trump, it is a great pleasure to meet you. It feels very warm seeing you again because it’s been many years,” Xi said. He noted that since Trump’s re-election, both leaders had spoken three times by phone and exchanged several letters. “Under our joint guidance, China-U.S. relations have remained stable on the whole. Given our different national conditions, it is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then,” Xi added.

Xi further emphasized that despite occasional differences, the two nations should remain “partners and friends.” “China and the United States can jointly shoulder our responsibilities as major powers and work together to accomplish greater and more concrete things for the benefit of both nations and the world,” he said.

The Busan meeting marked the first in-person dialogue between the two leaders in several years and drew global attention amid rising concerns over trade and geopolitical tensions. Both sides appeared intent on easing the economic standoff that had intensified in recent months following renewed U.S. tariff measures and China’s retaliatory restrictions on rare earth exports.

Ahead of the talks, U.S. officials suggested that President Trump was unlikely to move forward with his threat to impose an additional 100 per cent import tax on Chinese goods. In a conciliatory gesture, Beijing signalled readiness to ease export controls and resume large-scale soybean imports from the United States.

Diplomatic observers see the meeting as a critical step toward stabilizing the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship, with both leaders seeking to balance strategic competition with renewed cooperation.