Trump expressed confidence in the ability of U.S. and Chinese negotiators to fashion an agreement that stops the cycle of tit-for-tat tariffs and export-control reprisals that have characterized U.S.-China trade relations since April.
“I think we’re going to have a good deal with China. I think if we make a deal, it’s going to be great for China, great for us,” Trump told reporters in Malaysia on Sunday.
On his first visit to Asia during his second term, Trump landed in Malaysia Sunday morning to attend the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which groups together Southeastern Asian countries. This is his first stop in a five-day Asian tour that is expected to include to a bilateral meeting with Xi in South Korea.
Raising the expectations for the meeting, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said American and Chinese officials reached a “very successful” framework in talks this weekend. The two sides discussed agricultural purchases, TikTok, fentanyl, trade, rare earths and the overall bilateral relationship, he said.
Bessent described the talks as “constructive, far-reaching and in-depth, and giving us the ability to move forward to set the stage for the leaders meeting in a very positive framework,” according to Bloomberg.
“We discussed a wide variety of issues, from the rare earth, from the rare earth magnets to trade, to substantial purchases of American agricultural products, to the Chinese helping us in this fentanyl crisis that we have in the U.S., Bessent said later Sunday in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation program. “I believe that the Chinese will be making substantial purchases again” of American soybeans, he added.
Chinese Trade Representative Li Chenggang described the discussions as intense and hailed progress in the talks, Bloomberg reported. “The current turbulences and twists and turns are the ones that we do not wish to see,” Li told reporters, adding that a stable China-U.S. trade and economic relationship is good for both countries and the rest of the world, according to the report.
Sophia Cai contributed reporting.
