The United States and China are seeking to preserve their fragile trade truce before President Donald Trump visits Chinese President Xi Jinping for a high-stakes summit in Beijing this spring,according to theSouth China Morning Post.

On the sidelines of the 2025 APEC summit in Busan, South Korea, Trump and Xi held a pivotal meeting that produced a significant—though temporary—trade agreement. Following months of escalating tariffs, curbs on rare-earth exports, and agricultural boycotts, the two leaders agreed to a one-year truce that provided a measure of relief to the world's two largest economies.

"There seems to be a really strong appetite to maintain that fragile trade trucethat we saw struck in late 2025," Nick Marro, global trade lead at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told SCMP. "I think, at best,we could see this continuation of a detente in tariff policy."

South China Morning Postreports:

Extending the informal months-long understanding, a step seen by officials as realistic and achievable, would anchor the summit around short-term economic wins,including fresh Chinese purchase commitments, the sources said.Trump is expected to travel to China in early April,according to four people familiar with the plans. An initial arrival date under consideration was March 31, leading to a bilateral meeting with Xi in the first week of April as part of a visit lasting about three days, two of the people said.

Trumpdescribedthe 2025 deal as a "massive victory,"announcing reductions in certain U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods (from around 57% to 47% in key areas like fentanyl-related levies), while China committed to resuming large-scale purchases of American soybeans, sorghum, and other farm products, suspending new rare-earth restrictions, and cooperating on fentanyl flows.

The Busan agreement gave American farmers and manufacturers some breathing room, halted further escalation, and opened the door to potential longer-term negotiations, even as deeper structural issues around technology and supply chains remain unresolved.

"Both sides will look for deliverables that can be packaged as wins they can present at home," Wang Dan, China director at Eurasia Group, toldSCMP, adding "This could include numerical commitments for soybeans, energy and manufactured goods from the US."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng, in the coming weeks to discuss deliverables ahead of the meeting, sources told theSouth China Morning Post.

Last week, senior@USTreasurystaff visited China to strengthen channels of communication and advance the dialogue between our nations.During their visit, our teams discussed preparation for the next high-level meeting on U.S.-China trade between myself and Vice Premier He…

Source: ZeroHedge News