ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AFP) — United States President Donald Trump called the meeting Thursday with China’s Xi Jinping a “great success,” after the world’s top two economies agreed a deal to trim fentanyl-related tariffs and keep supplies of critical rare earths flowing.

There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government after what was the leaders’ first face-to-face meeting since 2019 and a key point in their trade battle that has rattled markets and snarled supply chains.

“I thought it was an amazing meeting,” Trump said after the talks in Busan, South Korea, praising Xi as a “tremendous leader of a very powerful country” and saying he would visit China in April.

Trump added that the deal included China immediately buying “tremendous amounts of soybeans and other farm products,” a key issue for Trump’s support in farm country and a point of leverage for Beijing.

The US leader said the talks yielded an extendable one-year deal on China’s supply of crucial rare earths, materials that are essential for sophisticated electronic components across a range of industries.

“All the rare earths has been settled, and that’s for the world,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Beijing had announced in early October additional controls on the export of rare earths, a sector where China is hugely dominant.

“On fentanyl we agreed that he was going to work very hard to stop the flow... I put a 20-percent tariff on China because of the fentanyl coming in... and based on his statements today I am going to reduce that by 10 percent,” Trump said.

Neither leader made any public comments immediately after the talks, which lasted around an hour and 40 minutes.

Trump headed straight to Air Force One, waving and pumping his fist as he boarded the plane. The jet took off minutes later.

Xi was seen getting into his limousine outside the closed-door meeting.

Xi acknowledged before the meeting began in earnest that both sides did not always see eye to eye, but should strive to be “partners and friends.”

“China and the US can jointly shoulder our responsibility as major countries and work together to accomplish more great and concrete things for the good of our two countries and the whole world,” Xi said.