Trump aims to clinch deal with China’s Xi on Asia trip

US President Donald Trump will test his deal-making abilities on a trip to Asia, a region battered by hard-line trade policies, as doubts remain over his highly anticipated meeting with China’s Xi Jinping.

Trump, who left Washington on Friday night, is preparing for a five-day trip to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, his first and longest foreign trip to the region since taking office in January.

The Republican leader hopes to lock down trade, critical mineral and ceasefire agreements before moving on to the toughest challenge – a face-to-face meeting with Xi in South Korea on Thursday.

While Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to rage and its trade war with China shows little sign of ending, Trump is also working to maintain the signature foreign policy achievement of his second term: the fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict that he helped broker.

Washington and Beijing have increased tariffs on each other’s exports and threatened to completely cut off trade in critical minerals and technologies.

The White House officially announced the trip on Thursday. Details continue to change, including a meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.

Neither side expects a breakthrough that would restore the terms of trade that existed before Trump takes office for a second term in January, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Instead, talks between the two sides in preparation for the meeting focused on managing disputes and modest improvements.

An interim deal could include limited relief on tariffs, an extension of existing rates or a commitment by China to buy U.S.-made soybeans and Boeing planes.

Beijing reneged on similar promises in the 2020 deal with Trump.

Washington could allow more high-end computer chips to flow to Beijing, loosening controls on rare earth magnets that angered Trump.

Or nothing could come of the talks.

On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump-Xi meeting would be a “retreat” and nothing official.

Trump later told reporters that the two would have “a pretty lengthy meeting” that would allow them to “solve together a lot of our questions, our doubts, and our tremendous assets.”

China did not confirm that a meeting was planned.

Trump is expected to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, which will begin on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

There he could oversee the signing of the ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia.

While the agreement is not a comprehensive peace deal, it would formalize an agreement that ended the worst conflict between the two countries in years in July.

After this stop, Trump will go to Japan to meet with newly elected prime minister Sanae Takaichi.

Takaichi is expected to approve his predecessor’s plans to increase military spending and earn US$550 billion ($A845 billion) from Trump-led investments in the US.

Trump then plans to meet with Xi ahead of an international trade summit in Busan, South Korea.

According to the schedule announced by the White House on Thursday, Trump is preparing to return to Washington before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ forum begins.

Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese imports to nearly 155 percent as of November 1 if a deal is not reached. This would almost certainly prompt a response from Beijing and end the ceasefire that has halted tit-for-tat escalations.

Beyond trade, the two leaders are expected to discuss Taiwan, which has long been a US-China irritant, and China’s ally Russia, which is currently subject to expanded US sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

Trump is also trying to finalize trade deals with Malaysia and India, while also trying to bolster an agreement already made with South Korea.

US and South Korean relations remain strained over Seoul’s concerns over Trump’s US$350 billion ($538 billion) investment in US companies and the deportation of foreign workers in the country.

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