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United States and China held constructive trade talks in Malaysia ahead of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping’s key meeting in South Korea next week.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping
The United States and China on Saturday held “very constructive” trade talks in Malaysia ahead of highly anticipated meeting of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea next week, a US Treasury spokesman said.
“Today’s talks have concluded. They have been very constructive, and we expect them to resume in the morning,” he said as quoted by news agency AFP.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng at Merdeka 118 — the world’s second-tallest building.
The world’s two largest economies are looking to avert an escalation of their trade war and ensure that a meeting happens next week between the two leaders, a high-stakes conversation that could revolve around some interim relief on tariffs, technology controls, and Chinese purchases of US soybeans.
The talks on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit will chart a path forward after Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and other trade curbs starting on November 1, in retaliation for China’s vastly expanded export controls on rare earth magnets and minerals.
The two countries also began charging arrival fees on each other’s ships, sparked by a US “Section 301″ investigation that found Beijing’s dominance in the industry was unreasonable.
The US President had earlier hoped to seal a “good” deal with China and end the trade war, even though he previously threatened to cancel the meeting, held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, starting October 31.
Meanwhile, Trump embarked on his Asia tour and laid out several talking points for the meeting with the Chinese President.
He said farmers, hit by a Chinese freeze on U.S. soybean purchases, and the democratic island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, would be on the list of topics discussed. Trump added he does not have any plans to visit Taiwan.
(With inputs from AFP)
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben…Read More
Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben… Read More
October 25, 2025, 21:20 IST
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