President Donald Trump heads to Asia on Friday for a week of meetings with key leaders in three countries, with a main goal of securing a trade deal with China’s President Xi Jinping — in hopes of ending a monthslong trade war.
Securing trade deal with China
Trump is expected to sit down with his Chinese counterpart in South Korea on Thursday, the final day of his overseas trip.
U.S.-China relations experienced some detente this summer as tariffs were lowered while trade talks continued, but tensions flared recently when China announced tightened export controls weeks before the leaders were set to meet.
Trump’s top economic advisers have called those export controls “economic coercion” and “extortion.”
He responded by threatening an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports, set to take effect Nov. 1, if his talks with Xi fail.
But at the same time he has appeared optimistic, saying he expects “to be able to make it a good deal” with Xi when the two sit down together. He’s said they’re also expected to confer about China’s purchase of American soybeans and even nuclear matters.
Other world leaders
Beyond meeting with Xi, Trump is expected to sit down with several other Asian leaders at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and has a bilateral meeting with Malaysia’s prime minister, Anwar bin Ibrahim, while in Kuala Lumpur, during the initial stage of his trip.
Trump will then travel to Japan where he’s expected to sit down with Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. A political conservative, Takaichi is the country’s first female leader. While the U.S. and Japan have already secured a trade deal, the two will highlight that aspect of the U.S.-Japan relationship.
On Wednesday, Trump is also expected to visit South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit. While there, Trump will hold a bilateral meeting with the president of the Republic of Korea, deliver keynote remarks at the APEC CEO luncheon and participate in APEC working dinner.
The visit comes after major tensions between South Korea and the U.S. after more than 400 South Korean workers were arrested, detained and deported at a Hyundai plant in Georgia as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown.
It came after Hyundai poured billions into the factory to align with Trump’s vision of manufacturing in America in order to avoid the brunt of Trump’s tariff policies.
The episode caused uncertainty about the ability of companies to get workers into the U.S. to build and operate manufacturing plants without similar incidents. Trump’s visit could be a chance to soothe unease among those companies as he continues to court investment in the U.S.
His visit also comes just days after he slapped more sanctions on Russian oil companies and continues to call on allies to pull back on purchases of Russian crude.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said those sanctions are already having an impact on, with China and India “scaling back” their contracts.
Though Trump is no stranger to APEC and ASEAN summits, having attended many during his first term, this visit will be his first major with Asian leaders during his second stay in office — as they try to navigate his often unpredictable changes in trade and foreign policy.
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