Trump Offers To Cut Fentanyl Tariffs If China Cracks Down On Exports: Report

• U.S. President Donald Trump visited several prominent Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia, this week. 
• According to a Bloomberg News report, Trump said on Friday he has spoken with China’s President Xi Jinping during their summit in South Korea.
• On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Fox interview that China would resume its purchases of soybeans from the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly said that the United States would eliminate all fentanyl-related tariffs on Chinese imports if Beijing takes steps to curb the export of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals.

According to a Bloomberg News report, Trump said on Friday he has spoken with China’s President Xi Jinping during their summit in South Korea and added that “China’s working very hard and I really believe that they have an incentive.”

The report noted that Trump has said he would halve a 20% duty related to fentanyl in their meeting. “As soon as we see that, we’ll get rid of the other 10%,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, according to Bloomberg.

Trump’s Asia Tour

U.S. President Donald Trump visited several prominent Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia, this week. The tour, which started in Malaysia, saw Trump sign deals with Malaysia and Cambodia that included eliminating or significantly reducing tariffs on a wide range of U.S. exports.

President Trump also inked reciprocal trade frameworks with Thailand and Vietnam. Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Thursday.

U.S.-China Truce?

The Bloomberg report noted that both leaders agreed to a truce, under which Trump has now let go of his threat to impose 100% tariffs on goods from China. It stated that the agreement also saw a pause on fees for Chinese-made ships docking at U.S. ports, in addition to lowering the fentanyl tariff and other measures.

As part of the deal, Chinese President Xi Jinping is rolling back plans to further tighten export limits on rare-earth magnets. Limits on rare-earth magnets have been in the news, raising concerns for the U.S.

“We’re going to have a great relationship with him, I think, for a long period of time,” Trump told reporters, referring to Xi, according to Bloomberg.

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in a Fox interview that China would resume its purchases of soybeans from the U.S., buying 12 million tons during the current harvest season, which extends through January.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities rose in Friday afternoon trade. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up 0.03% and the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) rose 0.21%

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