U.S. President Donald Trump began his Asia tour in Malaysia on Sunday, signing a raft of agreements, rewarding feuding neighbors Cambodia and Thailand with trade deals after co-signing their cease-fire pact, and saying he was confident of a "great" deal when he meets Chinese Premier Xi Jinping later this week.
Trump brimmed with confidence ahead of the meeting with Xi in South Korea, which seeks to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
"I think we're going to make a deal," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China's Vice Premier He Lifeng concluded two days of meetings.
"It's going to be great for China, great for us."
Bessent said the talks, seeking an agreement to avoid further 100% tariffs due to come into effect on Nov. 1, "set the stage for the leaders' meeting in a very positive framework."
China's Vice Minister of Commerce, Li Chenggang, told reporters that a "preliminary consensus" had been reached.
For Trump, however, first on his order of business in Kuala Lumpur – on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit – was co-signing a cease-fire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia.
Trump called the truce he helped broker – after the deadliest clashes between the neighbours in decades – a "monumental step," adding that alongside it he had struck "a major trade deal with Cambodia and a very important critical minerals agreement with Thailand."
As he left Washington, Trump added to speculation that he could also meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first time since 2019 while on the Korean peninsula, saying he was "open to it."
The U.S. president, on his first trip to Asia since returning to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking, heads to Japan on Monday on the next leg of his tour.
During Trump's first visit as president to Malaysia, his flight was escorted on its final approach to Kuala Lumpur by two Malaysian F-18 jets.
Greeted with a red carpet welcome and a sea of Malaysian and U.S. flags, a grinning Trump responded with his trademark arm-waving dance to cultural performers.
Trump, who also signed a trade and minerals deal with Malaysia, rode with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in his armoured Cadillac – nicknamed "The Beast."
The U.S. would maintain a tariff rate of 19% on exports from all three countries under the new deals, with the levy to be reduced to zero for some goods, according to joint statements released by the White House.
Washington also announced a similar framework deal with Vietnam, which has been levied with a tariff rate of 20% on its exports to the U.S.
Vietnam, which recorded a trade surplus of $123 billion with the U.S. last year, has pledged to vastly boost its purchases of American products to reduce the trade gap between the two countries.
Trump on Sunday inked two separate U.S. deals with Thailand and Malaysia seeking cooperation to diversify critical minerals supply chains, amid competing efforts from Beijing in the rapidly growing sector.
Reuters reported exclusively this month that China was in talks with Kuala Lumpur on rare earths processing, with Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional expected to partner with a Chinese firm to build a refinery in Malaysia.
China, the world's top miner and processor of rare earths, has imposed increasingly stringent export controls on its refining technology, sending global manufacturers scrambling to secure alternative supplies for critical minerals used widely in semiconductor chips, electric vehicles and military equipment.
Malaysia agreed on Sunday to refrain from banning or imposing quotas on exports to the U.S. of critical minerals or rare earth elements, the countries said in a statement.
Ahead of expected meeting with Xi, Bessent has reportedly said tariff increase on Chinese goods has been averted and that China has agreed to delay a new rare earths exports licensing regime for a year, a Reuters report said citing ABC.
Trump earlier also met Qatar's leaders – among the guarantors of the Gaza cease-fire deal he spearheaded – during a refuelling stop and met Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to improve ties with the leftist leader.
"I think we'll be able to do some pretty good deals," Trump said to Lula.
Trump will also meet Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday, who has put strengthening U.S. ties as her "administration's top priority on the diplomatic and security front."
The U.S. leader said he had heard "great things about her" and hailed the fact that she was an acolyte of assassinated former premier Shinzo Abe, with whom he had close ties.
Japan has escaped the worst of the tariffs Trump slapped on countries around the world to end what he calls unfair trade balances that are "ripping off the U.S."
The highlight of the trip is expected to be South Korea, where Trump will meet Xi for the first time since his return to office.
Trump is due to land in the southern port city of Busan on Wednesday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
On Thursday, global markets will be watching closely to see if the meeting with Xi can halt the trade war sparked by Trump's sweeping tariffs, especially after a recent dispute over Beijing's rare-earth curbs.
South Korea's reunification minister has said there is a "considerable" chance that Trump and North Korea's Kim will also meet.
The two leaders last met in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas during Trump's first term.
Kim has said he would also be open to meeting the U.S. president if Washington drops its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.
