Donald Trump signals regional trade deals as he kicks off Asia tour

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The US has signed trade and critical mineral deals with countries in south-east Asia, President Donald Trump said as he kicked off the first Asian trip of his second term at a time of heightened tensions over trade and tariffs.

Trump, who landed in Malaysia on Sunday morning to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Kuala Lumpur, presided over the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Cambodia and Thailand. The neighbours were embroiled in a deadly border dispute this summer.

“Alongside the peace treaty, we are also signing a major trade deal with Cambodia and a very important critical minerals agreement with Thailand,” he said. “The United States will have robust commerce and co-operation transactions, lots of them, with both nations as long as they live in peace.”

The US also finalised a trade deal with Malaysia on Sunday. All three countries should now face a tariff of 19 per cent, down from as high as 49 per cent.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul confirmed that a trade framework and nonbinding agreement on critical minerals had been agreed ahead of a full trade deal later this year.

Taking a page from the playbook of other leaders who have tried to flatter Trump, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said he had nominated the US president for the Nobel Peace Prize. In recent weeks, Trump has complained about not receiving the prize this year for his role in bringing about the ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Kuala Lumpur is the first stop of Trump’s weeklong tour before he flies to Japan to meet its new prime minister and heads to South Korea for a crucial summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

His Asia visit comes as US-China tensions have dramatically increased. Beijing this month announced sweeping export controls on rare earths, prompting Trump to threaten an extra 100 per cent tariff on Chinese goods from November 1 and raising the risk of a return to a full-blown trade war.

A Treasury spokesperson said trade talks in Malaysia between Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, US trade representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng, a confidante of Xi, had concluded.

China has given no public signs it will roll back the export controls, which have sparked criticism from the US and its allies for their impact on global supply chains.

But speaking to reporters in Malaysia, Greer earlier said the two sides had made progress towards a deal. He said they had wide-ranging talks that included a discussion about rare earths and the possibility of extending the ceasefire in the US-China trade war that is set to expire on November 10.

“We’ve had quite constructive discussions with our Chinese counterparts, and we think we’re getting to a point where we have something we can present to the leaders for their consideration,” Greer said.

Beijing has defended the restrictions on rare earths, which are vital to the manufacture of fighter jets, electric vehicles and smartphones, by accusing Washington of putting Chinese companies on an export blacklist.

Other countries in the region will look to Trump’s visit for clarity on his Indo-Pacific policy.

While the president has imposed tariffs on countries across Asia as part of his effort to reduce US trade deficits, he has not elaborated on his strategy regarding security and foreign policy issues.

Trump arrived in Malaysia a day after he put an extra 10 per cent tariff on Canadian goods in response to a television advert that quoted Ronald Reagan opposing tariffs.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is also in Malaysia for the Asean summit, but Trump said he had no plans to meet him.

Sanae Takaichi, the new Japanese prime minister who will also attend the Asean summit, wrote on X before the summit that she had spoken to Trump for the first time and had a “good and candid” phone call.

Trump will fly to Japan on Monday. He is expected this week to meet Takaichi who on Friday announced that Japan would accelerate a planned increase in defence spending — a move Japanese officials hope will please Trump.