Trump arrives in Asia for a week of key talks, including with China’s Xi

President Donald Trump has arrived in Malaysia for a nearly weeklong tour of Asia that will include meetings with key leaders, with the main goal of securing a trade deal with China’s President Xi Jinping in hopes of ending a months-long trade war.

Trump arrived in Kuala Lumpur shortly after 10 a.m. local time on Sunday. While en route, Trump posted on his social media platform that he would meet the Prime Minister of Thailand upon arrival and sign a peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, highlighting the recent death of Queen Mother Sirikit of Thailand.

Trump is expected to sit down with several other Asian leaders at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and hold a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar bin Ibrahim while in Kuala Lumpur during the initial leg of his trip.

Secure a trade agreement with China

Trump is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart in South Korea on Thursday, the last day of his trip abroad.

Relations between the United States and China experienced some easing this summer when tariffs were reduced while trade talks continued, but tensions flared recently when China announced tighter controls on exports of rare earth minerals weeks before the leaders met.

The Trump administration views those expanded restrictions, which apply to countries around the world, as having a significant impact on global manufacturing. Trump’s top economic advisers have called export controls “economic coercion” and “extortion.”

He responded by threatening an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports, set to take effect on November 1, if his talks with Xi fail.

Still, he sounded optimistic, saying he hopes “we can reach a good agreement” with Xi when the two sit down together. He has said they are also expected to discuss China’s purchase of American soybeans and even nuclear issues.

Other world leaders

After his stop in Malaysia, Trump will travel to Japan, where he is expected to meet with the new Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi. Takaichi, politically conservative, is the country’s first female leader. While the United States and Japan have already signed a trade agreement, the two will highlight that aspect of the US-Japan relationship.

Trump is also expected to visit South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit on Wednesday. While there, Trump will hold a bilateral meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea, deliver a keynote address at the APEC CEO Luncheon, and participate in the APEC Working Dinner.

The visit comes after heightened tensions between South Korea and the United States after more than 400 South Korean workers were arrested, detained and deported at a Hyundai plant in Georgia as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

It came after Hyundai invested billions in the factory to align with Trump’s vision of manufacturing in the United States and avoid the brunt of Trump’s tariff policies.

The episode raised uncertainty about companies’ ability to bring workers to the United States to build and operate manufacturing plants without similar incidents. Trump’s visit could be an opportunity to calm unrest among those companies while continuing to court investment in the US.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is also expected to attend APEC and other Asian meetings, and one of Trump’s top economic advisers said Friday that Trump and Carney will talk there about their latest tariff dispute.

Just before leaving for Asia, Trump abruptly ended trade talks with Canada, saying he was angered by a television ad aired by the province of Ontario that featured Ronald Reagan in 1987 criticizing the tariffs. Trump claimed it was an attempt to “illegally influence” the US Supreme Court, which will hear arguments next month on whether he has the power to unilaterally impose tariffs.

His visit also comes just days after he imposed more sanctions on Russian oil companies and continued to call on his allies to withdraw purchases of Russian crude.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said those sanctions are already having an impact on China and India, which are “reducing” their contracts.

Although Trump is no stranger to APEC and ASEAN summits, having attended many during his first term, this will be his first major visit to Asian leaders during his second term, as they try to navigate their often unpredictable shifts in trade and foreign policy.