President Donald Trump will soon be wrapping up the final leg of his five-day visit to Asia, where he met with several world leaders and sought to secure important trade deals.
Trump will have a long-awaited meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, and was caught on a hot mic on Wednesday saying he believes it will be a good meeting that will last several hours.
Trump and Xi will meet on the side of the Asia Pacific Economic Forum. The meeting comes as the two countries’ trade tensions are at a boiling point. Trump is offering to lower tariff rates on Chinese goods if Xi commits to limit exports of harmful chemicals used in fentanyl.
There’s currently a 20% tariff on Chinese imports to the U.S., but Xi imposed retaliatory tariffs on America’s soybeans and hurt the sector in the U.S. after no purchases have been made in months.
The meeting with Xi will include negotiations from involved parties on a deal that would delay Trump from enacting a 100% tariff and China resuming soybean purchases.
Trump’s trip so far
Trump’s multiday trip to Asia included stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea.
The president attended the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia on his first stop and signed reciprocal trade agreements with leaders from Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia.
Trump also helped broker the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords between Cambodia and Thailand and signed a mineral deal with Malaysian and Thai leaders.
On the second leg of his trip, Trump met with Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Takaichi, who was recently elected as Japan’s first female prime minister, rolled out the red carpet for Trump. The two leaders signed a rare earth minerals deal and an agreement that promises to bring a new “golden age” of relations between the two countries.
Takaichi said Japan would be nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the Middle East ceasefire. Takaichi reportedly gave Trump several gifts, including golf items from the assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and a hat with “Japan is back” printed on it.
Trump was welcomed by the military and band and later addressed thousands of American troops stationed in Japan.
Japan bolstering its defense capabilities was also a focus of the visit.
While the meetings were largely cheerful, there was pressure on Japanese companies to invest in American goods and strike deals with the president and business leader. For example, Japan pledged $550 billion in U.S. investments while also facing a 15% tariff on its exports.
After Japan, Trump then traveled to South Korea for the final stop of his trip.
The president was greeted by a military band playing one of Trump’s favorite songs, “YMCA.” He then addressed a group of CEOs at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
“Our deal with the Republic of Korea will be finalized very soon,” Trump told the leaders, saying the agreements will be “incredible victories” for them all.
Trump was later awarded with South Korea’s highest honor, the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, for peace efforts in the region with North Korea. He’s the first American president to receive the honor and has largely been viewed as a peacemaker for the region due to his close ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first administration.
Trump mentioned that he may meet with Kim while he was on his Asia trip, but later said that there wasn’t enough time to make a meeting happen.
South Korean President Lee Jaw Myung also gifted Trump a replica of a historic golden crown, which symbolized the U.S.-South Korean efforts for peace in the Korean Peninsula. Lee took office in June and is seeking closer relations with adversaries like China and North Korea than his predecessor, who was impeached earlier this year.
In addition to economic and trade deals negotiated by the two leaders, Lee said he’d increase military spending so the U.S. can lessen its “burden” in the region.
Trump noted earlier that a trade deal with South Korea was very close to being finalized and a South Korean official later confirmed to reporters that the details of the deal had been agreed upon.
Meeting with Xi
Trump and Xi were expected to meet Thursday morning local time in Gyeongju, South Korea, but the meeting was later moved to Busan, the second-most populated city after Seoul.
While Trump is predicting the meeting with Xi will last three to four hours, the White House schedule lists the president as departing South Korea after a roughly two-hour meeting. Trump will then travel back to the U.S. and participate in Halloween events Thursday evening at the White House.
Thursday’s meeting with Xi will be their first meeting since Trump returned to the White House earlier this year.
It’s unclear what each country has decided it would be willing to concede to reach an economic agreement, but under Trump’s tariff rollout and China’s retaliatory actions, particularly over soybeans, it’s clear that changes will have to be made between the two world powers.
“We’ve been talking a lot over the last month, and I think we’re going to have something that’s going to be very, very satisfactory to China and to us,” Trump said.
Another topic on the table is the finalization of the sale of TikTok. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that Trump and Xi will “consummate” the long-awaited social media deal.