The United States and China have both praised the outcome of weekend trade talks in Malaysia, fuelling optimism that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping could strike a deal to ease their long-running trade war when they meet later this week.
Officials from both sides said on Sunday that “significant progress” had been made during negotiations on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur. It marks the most positive signal yet since Trump’s return to the White House and his renewed push to reset global trade relations.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that negotiators had established a “framework” for the two leaders to discuss at the APEC summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Thursday, their first face-to-face meeting since 2019.
In interviews with NBC and ABC News, Bessent said the talks were moving towards a deal that would suspend China’s threatened export controls on rare earth minerals and head off a 100 percent US tariff on Chinese goods. He also said Beijing had agreed to make “substantial” purchases of US agricultural products, adding that American farmers “will feel very good.”
China’s Vice Premier and top trade negotiator He Lifeng echoed the upbeat tone, saying the sides had reached “a basic consensus” on how to address each other’s concerns and would now work to “finalise specific details.”
Markets across Asia surged on the news. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI both hit record highs on Monday, rising around 2 percent by midday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed nearly 1 percent.
Trump left Kuala Lumpur on Monday for Tokyo, where he will meet Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, before continuing to South Korea on Wednesday.
The talks come at a critical moment. Earlier this month, Beijing announced sweeping new export controls on rare-earth magnets and semiconductor materials linked to Chinese technology, a move widely seen as retaliation for US trade restrictions. Rare earths are vital for products ranging from smartphones and electric cars to fighter jets.
In response, Trump threatened to double down with a 100 percent tariff on all Chinese imports starting November 1.
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