Trump Heads to Asia for High-Stakes Diplomacy; Xi Meeting Uncertain

Next week, US President Donald Trump will travel to Asia to test his deal-making skills in a region affected by his own tough trade policies. The key event of the tour is the highly anticipated but still uncertain meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Departing from Washington on Friday evening, Trump plans a five-day visit to Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea. This is his first visit to the region and the longest foreign trip since taking office. The president hopes to sign a series of trade, business, and ceasefire agreements before moving on to his most difficult challenge: a face-to-face meeting with Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday.

The visit comes at a time when Trump is working to preserve the main foreign policy achievement of his second term—the fragile ceasefire established between Israel and Gaza—while the Russian war in Ukraine continues, and the trade war with China shows no signs of easing.

Although the details of the meeting are not yet finalized, neither side expects a breakthrough agreement that would restore the trade conditions that existed before Trump's second inauguration. Instead, the negotiations are focused on managing disagreements and making modest improvements.

A possible interim agreement could include a limited easing of tariffs, an extension of existing rates, or a commitment by China to buy American soybeans and Boeing aircraft, although Beijing has previously broken a similar promise in 2020. Another option is that Washington could allow more high-tech chips to flow to Beijing, in response to which China could relax its control over rare earth metals. However, it is not excluded that the negotiations will not yield any results at all.

It is noteworthy that China has not yet officially confirmed the possibility of the meeting.

During the tour, Trump will also participate in the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala

Lumpur, where a ceasefire agreement may be signed between Thailand and Cambodia, strengthening Trump's image as a global peacemaker.