Trump-Xi Trade Truce; Trump Orders Nuclear Testing

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 — and described it as highly positive, announcing a near‑term trade truce and planned follow-up visits (Trump to China in April, Xi to the U.S. later). They agreed to reciprocal measures including roughly 10‑percentage‑point reductions on some U.S. tariffs, a one‑year renewable pause to resume Chinese rare‑earth exports, and renewed large‑scale Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans, alongside commitments to step up fentanyl enforcement and to finalize a broader trade deal. Neither side issued a detailed official readout, and Trump said Taiwan was not discussed, leaving implementation timelines and key details unclear. Hours before the meeting, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had ordered the Department of War to “start testing” U.S. nuclear weapons immediately — a step that, if carried out, would be the first U.S. nuclear tests in decades and has raised global security concerns. Observers warned the pact’s fragility and possible spillovers for third parties, citing unresolved export-control tensions and a separate chip dispute already disrupting European auto supply chains.