LONDON

The Hungarian foreign minister on Thursday hailed a "successful" meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in which they reached agreement on tariffs and rare earths, saying it is "good news" for the Hungarian economy.

"The successful meeting and agreement on trade issues between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are good news for the Hungarian economy," Peter Szijjarto said on US social media company X.

He said Hungary's interest lies in a global economy built on rules, common sense and mutual respect, and "not on division into rival blocs."

"A fragmented world economy would clearly harm us," the Hungarian foreign minister added, mentioning that both US and China are Hungary’s two most important investment and trade partners outside the EU.

"Stronger cooperation between them supports our growth and the stability of the global economy," he added.

According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) data, in July 2025, US exported $279 million worth of goods and services to Hungary, marking a 6.15% increase from July 2024, when trade amounted to $262 million.

Szijjarto said last year that Hungary has become a major destination for Chinese investments in Europe, citing a 44% share of China’s European investments that were directed towards Hungary in the past year.

Trump and Xi met in South Korea earlier on Thursday, with the former announcing that the US will ease tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for curbing the flow of fentanyl, resuming purchases of US soya beans and no export controls on rare earth metals.

The US would reduce fentanyl-linked tariffs from 20% to 10%, lowering the tariffs from 57% to 47%.