Greetings from South Korea.
Today I'm writing to you from Gyeongju, the ancient capital of Korea's Silla Dynasty, as another chapter of the history books is preparing to be penned.
A big day is upon us. The two heads of state representing the two most powerful economies in the world are set to meet face-to-face within the next few hours. The two sides hope to strike a trade deal. President Donald Trump is confident they're on the doorstep of getting an agreement done.
"I think we're going to have a deal. I think it will be a good deal for both. And that's really a great result. That's better than fighting and going through all sorts of problems," Trump said, addressing the crowd at APEC on Wednesday.
It is true that the trade negotiations between the US and China have been some of the most tense and consequential since the president took office earlier this year. Tariffs and retaliatory measures have at times brought commerce between the two nations to a practical halt.
Major issues still remaining between China, US
And there are still sore subjects. The president has criticized China for their punitive measures on American soybean crops. September marked the first time since 2018 China imported zero soybeans from the United States.
Rare earth minerals and Chinese export controls on them? A key issue.
TikTok? Unresolved, but significant.
NVIDIA? The company hit a $5 trillion market cap today and continues to grow despite the fact they have effectively been pushed out of the Chinese market due to tense trade relations between the two nations.
"We've taken China out of our forecast," NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang explained. "We are currently shipping zero dollars. Our market share has gone from 95% to zero, which is very, very, very disappointing. But nonetheless, were currently assuming China is going to be 0% of our business. And if it comes back if President Trump was able to negotiate or if China would like us to come back to China, it's going to be a huge bonus for us."
There are a lot of big issues at play here and, as you can imagine, the stakes are high. A trade deal would impact millions of Americans in sectors such as tech, manufacturing, and agriculture.
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