Trump, Xi Scale Back Trade Tensions

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Caitlin McCabe (0:18)

President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping emerge from their summit with steps to deescalate trade tensions. Plus, Trump orders the Pentagon to start testing America's nuclear weapons. And we take a look at why the Hamptons real estate market is roaring back to life after years of sluggishness.

Katherine Clarke (0:38)

We can see deals completely stall in the overall housing market, and yet $100 million homes are flying off the shelf in the ultra luxury market. This is really its own stratosphere.

Caitlin McCabe (0:48)

It's Thursday, October 30th. I'm Caitlin McCabe for The Wall Street Journal, and here's the AM Edition of What's News. The top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have emerged from their first face-to-face meeting in six years with a number of steps to de-escalate trade tensions. The two leaders met for nearly 90 minutes at an airbase in South Korea following a bruising stretch of fighting over trade and technology. Following the meeting, Trump said the US would lower tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing's cooperation in cracking down on the export of chemicals used to produce fentanyl. The Journal's Meridith McGraw has been traveling with Trump on his swing through Asia and has more details on the meeting.

Meridith McGraw (1:41)

President Trump said the meeting with President Xi Jinping was a success and even gave it a rating of 12 on a scale of 1 to 10 He said they were able to come to an agreement on a lot of trade issues and said he expects them to be able to sign a deal soon that at least is going to stop some of the bleeding from their ongoing trade fight. When they first shook hands, President Trump called Xi his friend, but he did most of the talking and then they went into a separate room for a bilateral meeting where there were a bunch of senior officials.

She really appealed to Trump's desire to be seen as a peacemaker and deal maker and he complimented him on the Gaza ceasefire. But he also recognized that they don't always see eye to eye. Trump said Taiwan did not come up in the meeting and the president did not mention a TikTok deal. But he did say they talked about Ukraine and said they'll work together to get something done. But it's unclear if Trump put any kind of pressure on China for buying Russian oil.

Caitlin McCabe (2:34)

Meridith adds that the two superpowers came to agreements on other major sticking points, including on China upping its soybean purchases and easing its control on rare earth exports.

Meridith McGraw (2:45)

Trade negotiators really did a lot of the heavy lifting ahead of this meeting. But they did seem to walk away with some big things that they agreed to. For one, Trump said that he plans to lower the 20 percent fentanyl tariffs on China by 10 percent, with the expectation that China will crack down on the chemicals that are used to make the drug. On soybeans, Trump said China is expected to commit to a significant purchase of American soybeans after farmers here were hit really hard by the loss of Chinese buyers. On rare earths, Trump said China will postpone restrictions for a year.

Caitlin McCabe (3:21)

As for what's next, Meridith says the two leaders have more possible meetings in the months ahead.

Meridith McGraw (3:28)

I would say they made progress, and tensions at least for now have fought a little. Trump did say he agreed to meet with Xi in April, and then he also plans to host the Chinese leader potentially in Palm Beach or Washington DC next year. Overall, I'd describe the encounter as friendly but cautious. They made progress here, but a lot remains unresolved.

Caitlin McCabe (3:48)

The meeting followed trade progress between the US and South Korea, with both countries saying they agreed to terms on a trade deal. It was a surprise breakthrough following months of contentious talks between both nations. In a social media post, Trump said South Korea agreed to pay $350 billion in exchange for lower tariffs, while also touting the country's plans to buy American oil and gas in quote, vast quantities.

Staying with Trump. The president said on social media that he had ordered the Pentagon to begin testing America's nuclear weapons on an equal basis with Russia and China because of quote, other countries testing programs. It wasn't immediately clear what prompted the post, though Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that Russia has tested a new type of nuclear powered cruise missile and a nuclear powered underwater drone. In comments to reporters later, Trump said the White House plans to issue more details on the tests. He declined to explain the reason for his move but said it didn't relate to China. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for additional details. The US hasn't conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1992 and has joined Russia and China in observing a decades-long moratorium on underground nuclear blasts. And the Pentagon has ordered the National Guard to create quick reaction forces in every state and territory by January that are trained and equipped to respond to riots and civil unrest within the United States. That's according to internal Defense Department memos. The directives show that as many as 500 soldiers in each state or territory National Guard organization will be assigned to deploy in the US on short notice and receive non-lethal training in crowd control, the handling of detainees, and use of batons, stun guns and body shields. The control units are a major shift for the Pentagon and reinforce the Trump administration's push to directly involve the military in responding to protests and other domestic missions that have been off limits except in emergencies. Universal Music has settled a copyright dispute with artificial intelligence music generator Udio, leading to a new platform trained on licensed songs. The new subscription service will allow fans to create remixes and customize tracks with artists' permission required for music inclusion. Details of the financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed. The label and artists who opt in will be paid for music used for training the model. Universal and the two other largest record labels, Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group sued Udio and Suno, another AI music platform, last year. Coming up, remember all the reports about the ultra-rich ditching New York for Florida? Turns out some of them are returning and are scooping up luxury properties in the Hamptons. We explore the area's booming real estate market and more after the break.