U.S. President Donald Trump will test his deal-making prowess in a region battered by his hardball trade policies on a trip to Asia next week, as doubts hang over his highly anticipated meeting with China's Xi Jinping.
Trump, who leaves Washington on Friday night, is set for a five-day trip spanning Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, his first to the region and his longest journey abroad since taking office in January.
The Republican leader hopes to pile up trade, business and ceasefire deals before turning to the toughest challenge, a face-to-face with Xi on Thursday in South Korea.
The trip comes as Trump works to maintain the signature foreign policy achievement of his second term, a fragile ceasefire he helped strike in the Israel-Gaza conflict, while the Russian war in Ukraine rages and a trade war with China shows little sign of abating.
Washington and Beijing have hiked tariffs on each other's exports and threatened to cut off critical minerals and technologies altogether, putting markets on edge.
The trip was formally announced by the White House on Thursday and details remain in flux, including the meeting between leaders of the world's two largest economies.
Neither side expects a breakthrough that would restore terms of trade that existed before Trump's second-term inauguration in January, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Instead, talks between the two sides to prepare for the meeting focused on managing disagreements and modest improvements.
An interim agreement could include limited relief on tariffs, an extension of current rates or China committing to buy U.S.-made soybeans and Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab airplanes. Beijing reneged on similar promises in a 2020 deal with Trump.
Washington could let more high-end computer chips flow to Beijing, which in turn could loosen controls on rare earth magnets that have angered Trump.
Or, nothing could come of the talks at all.
On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump-Xi talk would be a "pull-aside," suggesting nothing formal. Trump later told reporters the two would have "a pretty long meeting," allowing them to "work out a lot of our questions and our doubts and our tremendous assets together."
China has not confirmed a meeting is planned.
Trump, who leaves Washington on Friday night, is set for a five-day trip spanning Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, his first to the region and his longest journey abroad since taking office in January.
The Republican leader hopes to pile up trade, business and ceasefire deals before turning to the toughest challenge, a face-to-face with Xi on Thursday in South Korea.
The trip comes as Trump works to maintain the signature foreign policy achievement of his second term, a fragile ceasefire he helped strike in the Israel-Gaza conflict, while the Russian war in Ukraine rages and a trade war with China shows little sign of abating.
Washington and Beijing have hiked tariffs on each other's exports and threatened to cut off critical minerals and technologies altogether, putting markets on edge.
The trip was formally announced by the White House on Thursday and details remain in flux, including the meeting between leaders of the world's two largest economies.
Neither side expects a breakthrough that would restore terms of trade that existed before Trump's second-term inauguration in January, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Instead, talks between the two sides to prepare for the meeting focused on managing disagreements and modest improvements.
An interim agreement could include limited relief on tariffs, an extension of current rates or China committing to buy U.S.-made soybeans and Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab airplanes. Beijing reneged on similar promises in a 2020 deal with Trump.
Washington could let more high-end computer chips flow to Beijing, which in turn could loosen controls on rare earth magnets that have angered Trump.
Or, nothing could come of the talks at all.
On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump-Xi talk would be a "pull-aside," suggesting nothing formal. Trump later told reporters the two would have "a pretty long meeting," allowing them to "work out a lot of our questions and our doubts and our tremendous assets together."
China has not confirmed a meeting is planned.
