US and Chinese officials reached a “very successful” framework for the upcoming leaders’ summit, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said after two days of talks in Malaysia.
Bessent told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday morning that the two sides discussed agricultural purchases, TikTok, fentanyl, trade, rare earths and the overall bilateral relationship.
He 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.”
Photo: Reuters
The negotiations took place at the skyscraper Merdeka 118 as US President Donald Trump met with Southeast Asian leaders at a nearby convention center.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) led the Chinese side and was joined by Chinese Trade Representative Li Chenggang (李成鋼) and Vice Finance Minister Liao Min (廖岷). US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was part of the US team.
Trump landed in Malaysia yesterday to begin his first tour of the region during his second term. He was greeted by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on the tarmac and oversaw the signing of a peace declaration between Thailand and Cambodia.
Trump and Anwar Ibrahim signed a trade agreement and critical minerals pact, as the US leader looked to boost trade across Southeast Asia and respond to China’s tightening of access to rare earths.
Greer said at the signing in Kuala Lumpur that the critical minerals deal made sure that trade and investment in the rare earths would make trade “as free as possible and resilient as possible.”
The deal with Malaysia is set to ease concerns surrounding its exports to China. Trump set a 19 percent tariff on the country in August, lower than the 25 percent he had threatened in July.
Malaysia had been seeking less onerous US trade conditions for months, and has vowed to crack down on the smuggling of advanced semiconductors through the country to China.
Anwar called the deals “a significant milestone” that would improve the relationship between the nations beyond trade.
Earlier in the day, Trump also announced a broad trade agreement with Cambodia and a critical minerals pact with Thailand, although the latter was mostly an aspirational pledge to work together. The Cambodia deal would see hundreds of types of goods exempted from the reciprocal tariff rate on exports imposed by Trump earlier this year.
The US president is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings in Malaysia and later in Japan and South Korea, where he is also expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said he hopes the talks with Xi would yield “a complete deal.”
The meeting would be the first face-to-face between the leaders of the two biggest economies since Trump returned to the White House in January. The two have spoken at least three times this year, and Trump has said direct talks are the best way to resolve issues, including tariffs, export curbs, agricultural purchases, fentanyl trafficking, geopolitical flashpoints such as Taiwan and the war in Ukraine.
“We’ll be talking about a lot of things. I think we have a really good chance of making a very comprehensive deal,” he said.
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