As President Trump and President Xi prepare to meet for the first time since 2019, officials are hinting that a trade deal is near.
Published October 27, 2025
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The United States and China have welcomed the outcome of trade talks in Malaysia, raising hopes that President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping will strike a deal to ease trade war tensions in their first meeting since 2019.
U.S. and Chinese officials concluded a weekend of negotiations on Sunday on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, with both sides saying they had made significant progress toward a deal.
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President Trump and President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet on Thursday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, marking their first face-to-face meeting since the US president returned to the White House and began sweeping changes to global trade.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that the two countries have come up with a “framework” for talks between Trump and Xi in South Korea.
In a subsequent interview with NBC News, Bessent said he hoped the two countries could reach an agreement that would postpone China’s threatened export restrictions on rare earths and avoid the 100% tariffs that President Trump has threatened to impose on Chinese goods.
Bessent also said in an interview with ABC News that the Chinese government has agreed to make “substantial” purchases of U.S. agricultural products, which the Treasury secretary said will make U.S. soybean farmers “feel very good.”
Vice Premier He Lifeng, the Chinese government’s top trade negotiator, said the two countries had reached a “basic agreement” on “arrangements that address the concerns of both sides.”
China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that they had agreed to “finalize specific details” and “proceed with the domestic approval process.”
After attending the ASEAN Summit, President Trump will depart for Japan on Monday where he is scheduled to meet with newly sworn-in Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
The US president is then scheduled to visit South Korea on Wednesday.
President Trump has imposed steep tariffs on nearly all of America’s trading partners, and has threatened to impose higher tariffs on China than anywhere else.
Countries are anxiously awaiting a resolution to tensions, hoping that the U.S. and China can avoid a full-scale trade war that could cause devastating damage to the global economy.
Earlier this month, amid a significant escalation in U.S.-China tensions, the Chinese government announced that it would require companies around the world to obtain export permits for rare earth magnets and some semiconductor materials that contain even trace amounts of minerals produced in China or manufactured using Chinese technology.
The proposed rules are scheduled to go into effect on December 1, raising concerns that they could cause major disruptions to global supply chains.
Rare earths, a group of 17 minerals that include holmium, cerium, and dysprosium, are essential to the production of countless high-tech products such as smartphones, electric cars, and fighter jets.
In response to the Chinese government’s move, President Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese goods starting November 1st.
Analysts say the retaliatory move is an effort by China and the US to gain leverage in negotiations ahead of the summit between President Trump and Xi.
