President Donald Trump is beginning a nearly weeklong trip to Asia that includes Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, with an expected — but not yet confirmed — meeting with China’s Xi Jinping. The visit comes as Washington and Beijing clash over trade and rare earths and as Southeast Asia prepares a Thailand–Cambodia cease-fire accord that Malaysian officials say Trump will witness.
President Trump’s Asia swing opens with the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur — his first participation in the gathering since 2017. Malaysian officials say Trump is expected to witness a cease-fire declaration between Thailand and Cambodia after deadly border clashes this summer that killed dozens and displaced large numbers. The July truce was brokered in Malaysia and followed Trump’s threat to hold up trade talks and raise tariffs if fighting continued, according to accounts from U.S. and regional officials.
A senior U.S. official told reporters that China is not expected to take part in the ceremony because Washington does not view Beijing’s role as “significant” or “consequential,” though Chinese representatives were involved in talks. Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, credited Malaysia’s mediation and said the Chinese “weren’t involved,” echoing the U.S. assessment.
In Tokyo, Trump will meet Japan’s newly elected prime minister, Sanae Takaichi — the country’s first female premier — and pay a call on Emperor Naruhito. He is also slated to deliver remarks aboard the USS George Washington at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka. Trade will feature prominently; NPR reports the United States has yet to finalize broader trade arrangements with Japan and South Korea, even as negotiations continue.
The trip then moves to South Korea for the APEC leaders’ week, where Trump is set to meet President Lee Jae‑myung. Lee took office in June after his predecessor was impeached following a martial‑law crisis. Their first in‑person meeting comes weeks after U.S. immigration agents detained hundreds of workers — more than 300 of them South Korean nationals — in a raid at a Hyundai–LG battery plant in Georgia, an episode that rattled Seoul. Lee’s government has linked ongoing tariff talks with a sweeping U.S. investment package; officials in both capitals say a proposed $350 billion commitment from South Korea — structured across direct investments, financing and guarantees — remains under negotiation.
The high‑stakes finale is a planned meeting with China’s Xi on Oct. 30 on the sidelines of the Korea APEC events, though Beijing has not publicly confirmed it. Tensions sharpened this month after China expanded controls on exports of rare earths and related technologies, prompting Trump to threaten additional tariff hikes and to briefly suggest there was “no reason” to meet Xi before later expressing optimism about striking a “fantastic” deal. Analysts, including Ryan Hass of the Brookings Institution, say the most likely outcome is an extension of the summer tariff truce to allow talks to continue.
Trump has cast his diplomatic forays in sweeping terms. In last month’s address to the U.N. General Assembly, he said: “I have ended seven unending wars… and I did it in just seven months.” Independent fact‑checks note that several of the conflicts he cites remain unresolved or are tenuous cease‑fires rather than definitive peace agreements.
