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US President Donald Trump said he would cut tariffs imposed on China over the flow of chemical ingredients for fentanyl, as he arrived in South Korea ahead of a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Speaking on Air Force One on Wednesday, Trump said he would lower the 20 per cent tariff he imposed early in his term. The levy was designed to put pressure onย Beijing to curbย the export of precursor chemicals used to make the synthetic opioid, which has triggered an epidemic in the US.
โI expect to be lowering that because I believe they can help us with the fentanyl situation,โ Trump said. โWe have to get rid of it.โย
US and Chinese officials over the weekend wrapped up trade talks that produced a tentative deal for Trump and Xi to approve when they meet in the south-eastern city of Gyeongju on Thursday.
Following the talks, a US official had told the Financial Times that China was prepared to take concrete measures to stop the flow of fentanyl ingredients which, he said, would merit โa little bit of reliefโ from the US.
Speaking to business executives attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Gyeongju shortly after he landed in the city, Trump said he expected to reach an agreement with Xi.
โWeโre going to have a deal. I think itโll be a good deal for both and thatโs really a great resultโ.โ.โ.โThatโs better than fighting,โ Trump said.
The US president will also meet South Koreaโs President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday. Washington and Seoul are yet to finalise a deal that would give South Korea a lower tariff rate of 15 per cent in exchange for $350bn of investment in the US.
Trump told the executives he would finalise a deal with Seoul โvery soonโ, saying it would be within โmoments or very shortly thereafterโ.
Lee has insisted that several โsticking pointsโ remained, including the amount, method and timeline of the Korean investment.
โIt is still a situation where one can neither be optimistic nor pessimistic,โ Lee Kyu-youn, a senior aide to President Lee, told reporters, according to South Koreaโs state-owned news agency Yonhap.
Ahead of their working lunch, Lee presented Trump with a replica of an ancient golden crown dating back to the Silla kingdom, which ruled much of the Korean peninsula from Gyeongju during the first millennium.
He also awarded Trump South Koreaโs highest order of merit, the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, for โpromoting the development and security of the Republic of Koreaโ.
The lunch menu included a โKorean Platter of Sincerity with US Beef,โ as well as a โPeacemakerโs Dessertโ consisting of โgolden citrus dessert with gold-adorned brownieโ.
The blandishments came despite a rocky period in the alliesโ relationship, which has been tested by Trumpโs tariffs. In September, US immigration enforcement agents arrested and shackled hundreds of Korean workers at a battery plant in the US state of Georgia, further troubling ties between Washington and Seoul.
In his speech on Wednesday, Trump said the โentire world should be inspiredโ by South Koreaโs economic development, and hailed Washingtonโs relationship with Seoul, describing the allies as โserious partnersโ.
โWeโre wedded, and we have a very special relationship, a special bond,โ Trump said.
But without a deal on South Koreaโs mooted $350bn investment, Asiaโs fourth-largest economy continues to be subject to 25 per cent US tariffs. That puts its auto exporters at a disadvantage to Japanese rivals, who are subject to a 15 per cent tariff under Tokyoโs agreement with Washington.
Korean officials are also nervous about the Trump administrationโs determination to โmoderniseโ the countriesโ defence alliance, including by shifting its focus more squarely on Chinaโs growing military capabilities.
Trump, who was greeted by a South Korean air force band playing โYMCAโ, had previously said he would โlove to meetโ North Koreaโs leader Kim Jong Un and that he was prepared to discuss sanctions relief on the regime.
However, he told reporters on Air Force One that he was too busy. โI also want to focus on China,โ Trump said.
Trump arrived in South Korea from Japan where he held his first meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.ย
The leaders pledged to bring the US-Japan alliance into a new โgolden ageโ and signed a deal on rare earths designed to reduce their countriesโ dependence on China.
