U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media connected the South Lawn of the White House earlier boarding Marine One successful Washington, DC, US, connected Friday, Oct. 24, 2025.
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Top economical officials from the U.S. and China kickstarted talks successful Kuala Lumpur connected Saturday to avert an escalation of their commercialized warfare and ensure that a gathering happens adjacent week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The talks connected the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations acme volition illustration a way guardant after Trump threatened caller 100% tariffs connected Chinese goods and different commercialized curbs starting connected November 1, successful retaliation for China's vastly expanded export controls connected uncommon world magnets and minerals.
The caller actions, which besides see an expanded U.S. export blacklist that covers thousands much Chinese firms, person disrupted a delicate commercialized truce crafted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng implicit 4 erstwhile meetings since May.
China's apical commercialized negotiator Li Chenggang is besides participating successful the talks. A Reuters witnesser saw Li arriving alongside He astatine Kuala Lumpur's Merdeka 118 tower, the second-tallest gathering successful the world, wherever the venue for the talks is located.
The Malaysian authorities and the U.S. and Chinese sides person provided fewer details astir the gathering oregon immoderate plans to little the media astir outcomes.
Talking points
The 3 officials volition effort to pave the mode for Trump and Xi to conscionable adjacent Thursday astatine an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation acme successful South Korea, a high-stakes speech that could revolve astir immoderate interim alleviation connected tariffs, exertion controls and Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans.
Minutes earlier the talks started, Trump near Washington for his circuit of Asia and laid retired respective talking points for the gathering with Xi.
He said farmers, deed by a Chinese frost connected U.S. soybean purchases, and the antiauthoritarian land of Taiwan, which China claims arsenic its ain territory, would beryllium connected the database of topics discussed.
Trump added helium does not person immoderate plans to sojourn Taiwan. He besides flagged the merchandise of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, whose lawsuit has go the astir high-profile illustration of China's crackdown connected rights and freedoms successful the Asian fiscal hub.
"We person a batch to speech astir with President Xi, and helium has a batch to speech astir with us. I deliberation we'll person a bully meeting," Trump said.
Trump near Washington connected Friday nighttime for a five-day travel to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, his archetypal to the portion and longest travel overseas since taking bureau successful January.
Aboard Air Force One, helium told reporters that helium would besides similar China to assistance Washington successful its dealings with Russia.
Delicate balance
Josh Lipsky, planetary economics seat astatine the Atlantic Council successful Washington, said Bessent, Greer and He indispensable archetypal find a mode to mitigate their quality implicit U.S. exertion export curbs and China's uncommon earths controls, which Washington wants to reverse.
"I'm not definite the Chinese tin hold to that. It's the superior leverage that they have," Lipsky said.
Some of those announcements whitethorn autumn to Trump, who is owed to get successful the Malaysian superior connected Sunday.
"We won't cognize if Beijing has successfully counterbalanced the U.S.'s export controls with restrictions of their ain oregon if they've induced a continuation of an escalatory spiral until Trump and Xi meet," said Scott Kennedy, a China economics adept astatine Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"If they marque a deal, their gambit volition person paid off. If there's nary deal, past everyone volition request to hole for things to get overmuch nastier."
Rare earths stranglehold
The world's 2 largest economies are seeking to debar a instrumentality of their tariff escalation to triple-digit levels connected some sides. Bessent and Greer's archetypal gathering with He successful Geneva successful May led to a 90-day truce, which brought down tariffs sharply to astir 55% connected the U.S. broadside and 30% connected the Chinese broadside and restarted the travel of magnets.
It was extended successful consequent talks successful London and Stockholm and was owed to expire connected November 10. But the delicate truce frayed astatine the extremity of September, erstwhile the U.S. Commerce Department vastly expanded an export blacklist to automatically see firms much than 50% owned by companies already connected the list, banning U.S. exports to thousands much Chinese firms.
China struck backmost with the caller planetary uncommon world export controls connected October 10, aiming to forestall their usage successful subject systems. Bessent and Greer blasted China's determination arsenic a "global proviso concatenation powerfulness grab" and vowed the U.S. and its allies would not judge the restrictions.
Reuters reported that the Trump medication is considering a program to up the ante with curbs connected a dizzying array of software-powered exports to China, from laptops to pitchy engines, according to sources acquainted with the deliberations.
The Trump medication added to the hostility connected Friday by announcing a caller tariff probe into China's "apparent failure" to conscionable the presumption of the 2020 U.S.-China "Phase One" commercialized statement that halted their commercialized warfare during Trump's archetypal term.
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