Trump expects to sign China trade deal at Xi summit

“President Xi of China is coming tomorrow here, and we’re going to be, I hope, making a deal, I think we’re going to have a deal, I think it’ll be a good deal for both," Trump said in a speech at the APEC Summit on Wednesday in Gyeongju, South Korea.

“I think it’s going to be a great deal," he said ahead of a planned meeting with Xi.

Trump and Xi’s highly anticipated meeting is expected to cover a wide range of topics, including the export of chemicals used to produce fentanyl. The president has said the U.S. expects to lower tariffs on China in exchange for cooperation in cracking down on the export of chemicals used to make the synthetic opioid.

In the speech, he said that his administration will end “unfair trade barriers" and overhaul “weak, pathetic" supply chains, touting agreements signed during his Asia trip.

“On this trip alone, I’ve signed groundbreaking agreements with Malaysia, Cambodia, Japan, our deal with the Republic of Korea," Trump said, adding that Seoul and Washington will be working together in shipbuilding. “Around the world we’re signing one trade deal after another, to balance our relationships on the basis of reciprocity."

In a wide-ranging speech, he also listed a number of companies that have agreed to invest in the U.S. since the start of his term—saying that TSMC has pledged $100 billion, Hyundai $26 billion, Micron $200 billion, and “over $500 billion" from SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle, without elaborating further.

Trump added that his trade policies are “bringing back all pharmaceutical businesses" to the U.S. In September, he posted on Truth Social that the U.S. would impose a 100% tariff on any branded pharmaceutical product, unless a company is building plants in the U.S., without providing details.

Bringing manufacturing to the U.S. has been a centerpiece of the Trump administration’s negotiations with other nations, with trade talks often involving pledges to invest more in America.

He reiterated in his Wednesday speech: “If you build your factory in the U.S., there are zero tariffs."

A slew of companies have announced billions in investments in America since Trump’s election. That could in theory mean a reprieve from tariffs, but a lot remains unclear about how the trade deals the U.S. has struck will implemented. Details around investment packages are particularly vague, and have been a sticking point in talks with Tokyo and Seoul.

Tokyo and Washington on Tuesday released a fact sheet outlining billions in investment projects in certain sectors pertaining to the $550 billion Japan said it would invest in the U.S. months earlier.

But without details on execution, it remains to be seen which companies are doing what.

“We don’t know what’s in there. It’s perfectly possible that those numbers include things that were going to happen anyway," said Stefan Angrick at Moody’s Analytics. “How is this all going to be financed? How’s the profit sharing to work?"

“There’s not a lot of substance there. It’s just really big numbers."

Write to Jihye Lee at jihye.lee@wsj.com and Fabiana Negrin Ochoa at fabiana.negrinochoa@wsj.com