12:30 Report is The Hill's midday newsletter. Subscribe here.

It’s Wednesday. Well, the kids won. “6-7” has been declared the word of 2025. If you don’t know what this means, neither does anyone who is old enough to vote.

In today's issue:

• World braces for today’s Trump-Xi meeting
• Hurricane Melissa batters Cuba
• US sends emergency crews to Jamaica
• Interest rate cut predicted for today
• Vance, Erika Kirk to speak

🎤 IN SOUTH KOREA

World braces for Trump-Xi meeting:

This is the day we’ve been nervously awaiting. President Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea for their first face-to-face meetup in six years.

What are Trump’s biggest goals:

• Finalizing a trade deal

• Increase U.S. access to Chinese critical minerals

• Talk China into buying more U.S. agriculture

• Finalizing the TikTok sale

What are Xi’s biggest goals?:

• Nixing the tariff on Chinese goods

• Avoid export restrictions on American technology

• Move Washington closer to Beijing’s position toward Taiwan

Read Laura Kelly’s preview on these goals: ‘Trump extends friendly hand to Xi in fraught relationship with China’

Keep an eye tooon whatever the two sides say about China helping crack down on fentanyl.

How did Trump’s day with the South Korean president go?: Lots of flattery. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung gifted Trump a golden crown and a coveted medal.

^ But just a few hundred miles away: North Korea conducted a series of cruise missile tests. For what it’s worth, Trump has repeatedly said during this trip that he would like to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, though nothing has been scheduled.

Related read, via The New York Times: ‘How the 19th-Century Opium War Shapes Xi’s Trade Clash With Trump’

💬 Follow today’s live blog

🌀 HURRICANE MARIA

Melissa mangles the Caribbean:

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 storm this morning after devastating Jamaica. More than 700,000 people are in evacuation shelters.

The U.S. is deploying emergency teams to the Caribbean to help with the disaster response.........

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