CHINA and the United States agreed to reduce tariffs and trade restrictions at a much-anticipated meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in South Korea today.

The leaders of the world’s biggest economies also agreed to mutual visits — with Mr Trump reportedly being invited to China in April and Mr Xi to visit the United States later on — in what both presented as a breakthrough in relations.

“I guess on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best… the meeting was a 12,” Mr Trump gushed to reporters on Air Force One.

The US agreed to lower a so-called “fentanyl tariff” — imposed on claims that China sells chemicals used to make the fentanyl drug — from 20 to 10 per cent, but this still leaves a combined tariff rate of 47 per cent on Chinese exports to the US.

Other mutually imposed tariffs of 24 per cent have been suspended for a year, with Mr Trump saying he was confident Washington and Beijing could sign a wide-ranging trade deal.

Mr Xi said the two countries would work on a lasting agreement to provide the world with “peace of mind” — the trade war taking shape between the two having the potential to seriously disrupt global trade, as first the US then China began applying restrictions on the use of certain products in international supply chains.

“Both sides should take the long-term perspective into account, focusing on the benefits of co-operation rather than falling into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation,” he said.