US China Trade Talks: Avoiding Escalation in Malaysia
- and China are meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday to attempt to de-escalate their trade war and secure a meeting next week between U.S.
- The talks, held on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, seek a resolution after Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and further...
- export blacklist covering thousands of chinese firms, have disrupted a delicate trade truce established by U.S.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S.
US-China Trade Talks in Kuala Lumpur: Averting Escalation
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Top economic officials from the U.S. and China are meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday to attempt to de-escalate their trade war and secure a meeting next week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The talks, held on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, seek a resolution after Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and further trade restrictions starting November 1, in response to China’s expanded export controls on rare earth magnets and minerals.
Recent actions, including an expanded U.S. export blacklist covering thousands of chinese firms, have disrupted a delicate trade truce established by U.S.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng over four previous meetings since May.
The Stakes: A Fragile Truce Under Threat
The three officials – He, Bessent, and Greer – will attempt to create conditions for a Trump-Xi meeting next Thursday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea. This high-stakes conversation coudl center on interim tariff relief, technology controls, and Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans.
Josh Lipsky, international economics chair at the Atlantic Council in Washington, emphasized the urgency: “The meeting can’t happen without an agreement that they can return to this intermediate ceasefire that we’ve had over the summer.” He added that the U.S. aims to reverse China’s new rare earths controls, stating, “I’m not sure the Chinese can agree to that. It’s the primary leverage that they have.”
Rare Earths and Technology Controls: The Core of the Dispute
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