Trump, Xi Announce Trade Truce; Nuclear Tests Ordered

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a roughly 100‑minute face‑to‑face meeting in Busan, South Korea — their first since 2019 — in an encounter they described as positive. According to separate U.S. and Chinese readouts, they outlined a near‑term trade truce in which Beijing will suspend sweeping rare‑earth export controls for one year while the U.S. will pause new tech‑restriction rules, and both sides agreed to tariff cuts and expanded Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans alongside stepped‑up fentanyl enforcement cooperation. Trump said a deal could be signed soon and announced plans to visit China in April while Xi pledged follow‑up visits to the U.S.; no joint public readout was issued, leaving implementation timelines and key details unclear, and Taiwan was not publicly discussed. Hours before the meeting, Trump posted that he had ordered the Department of War to “start testing” U.S. nuclear weapons immediately, a statement that has raised international security concerns. Observers warned the understandings remain fragile and noted that chip and supply‑chain disputes affecting European industries are unresolved.