Donald Trump says talks with Xi Jinping a 'tremendous success.' Critics say it was a 'dud'

The TOI correspondent from Washington: In a partial de-escalation of trade hostilities, the United States and China announced several tentative agreements on Thursday, including resumption by Beijing of global supply of rare earth elements and its purchase of US agricultural produce. The purported detente followed the first face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping in six years, held on the sidelines of the Apec summit in South Korea. On his way back to the US on Air Force One, President Trump, with his trademark hyperbole, rated the meeting a "12" out of 10, stating that an "outstanding group of decisions" were made, including a one-year unfreezing on China’s rare earth export controls which constrained supplies to the whole world, and which he expec