GYEONGJU- Reuters :US President Donald Trump landed in South Korea on Wednesday for the final leg of his Asia trip, optimistic about striking a trade war truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping after summit talks with South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung.
Arriving from Tokyo hours after North Korea test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile, Trump is due to address a summit of CEOs and meet with Lee in Gyeongju, a sleepy South Korean town filled with historic tombs and palaces.
The main item on Wednesday’s agenda will be the unresolved trade agreement between the US and South Korea, before an expected meeting with Xi on Thursday, the prospect of which has already buoyed global markets.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Gyeongju, Trump dismissed the North Korea missile test and said he was squarely focused on his meeting with the leader of the world’s second-largest economy.
“The relationship with China is very good. So I think we’re going to have a very good outcome for our country and for the world, actually,” Trump said.
He expects to reduce US tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Beijing’s commitment to curb exports of fentanyl precursor chemicals, he added. The US could halve the 20% levies on Chinese goods it currently charges in retaliation for the export of such chemicals, the Wall Street Journal reported.
After arriving in the southern city of Busan, Trump was greeted by officials and a cannon salute on the red carpet, before a band struck up a rendition of Village People’s YMCA, a favourite of the US president’s often played at his rallies. He was then whisked to Gyeongju in his helicopter.
Trump made no mention of trade talks with South Korea on Wednesday, with both sides playing down the prospect of a breakthrough in leader talks.
The two allies announced a deal in late July under which South Korea would avoid the worst of the tariffs by agreeing to pump $350 billion of new investments into the United States. But talks over the structure of those investments have been deadlocked.
