Key Points
- President Trump is traveling to Asia to strike new economic deals ahead of a summit with China’s President Xi.
- The main goal is to secure alternative sources of critical minerals to counter China’s export controls.
- The trip is a clear move to ramp up pseekjing before the toes meeting.
- Trump has threatened a new 100% tariff on Chinese goods if they don’t back down.
President Donald T is heading to Asia to advance his goal of striking new economic and critical minerals deals that will ramp up the pressure on China ahead of his high-stakes meeting with President Xi Jinping.
According to senior U.S. officials, Trump will be looking for agreements that can help create more reliable supply chains for American industries, a direct response to China’s recent move to tighten its export controls on rare earth minerals. By securing alternative sources for these vital materials, the U.S. is trying to weaken China’s main point of leverage in the ongoing trade dispute.
The trip will include stops in Malaysia for the ASEAN summit, Japan, and then South Korea for the APEC summit, where the much-anticipated meeting between Trump and Xi will take place.
The U.S. is coming into that meeting with a tough stance. Trump has threatened to impose a new 100% tariff on Chinese goods if Beijing doesn’t back down on its export controls. And just this week, his administration launched a new investigation into whether China has complied with a previous trade deal, a move that could open the door to even more tariffs.
Besides the rare earths issue, Trump is also looking to press Xi on a range of other topics, including resuming purchases of U.S. soybeans and cracking down on fentanyl trafficking. The two leaders will also have to decide whether to extend a current tariff truce that is set to expire in November.
