He Lifeng, China's vice premier, centre, arrives for a meeting with the US trade delegation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. - Bloomberg
KUALA LUMPUR: US and Chinese officials kicked off a new round of talks aimed at defusing a standoff between the world’s two largest economies before an upcoming leaders’ summit.
Chinese and US delegations began a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday morning (Oct 25), according the official Xinhua news agency. Vice Premier He Lifeng led the Chinese side and was joined by Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang and Vice Finance Minister Liao Min. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent headed the US team.
Bessent and He, a longtime associate of President Xi Jinping, face the task of negotiating down new escalatory measures imposed by their countries against one another. They are also setting the stage for expected talks on Thursday between Xi and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit in South Korea.
Trump said he and Xi have "a lot of things to discuss” and expects both sides to make compromises, although he won’t put odds on getting a deal.
"They have to make concessions. I guess we would too. We’re at 157 per cent tariff for them. I don’t think that’s sustainable for them, and they want to get that down, and we want certain things from them,” Trump told reporters on Friday aboard Air Force One on his way to Asia.
Trump has said he wants to extend a pause on higher tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Xi resuming American soybean purchases, cracking down on fentanyl and backing off restrictions on rare-earth exports.
Earlier in October, Trump lashed out against Beijing’s vow to broaden controls on rare-earth elements, raising the prospect of setting a sky-high tariff rate on Chinese goods and even cancelling his first in-person meeting with Xi since he returned to the White House this year.
At stake is a trade truce that’s set to run out on Nov. 10 unless extended. Months of tentative stability in the US-China relationship have been upended in recent weeks after Washington broadened some tech restrictions and proposed levies on Chinese ships entering US ports.
China responded with parallel moves and outlined tighter export controls on rare earths and other critical materials. On Monday, the Ministry of Commerce convened an unusually large meeting in Beijing with foreign businesses, in an effort to reassure them that its latest export controls aren’t meant to restrict normal trade. - Bloomberg
