Posted on 10/25/2025 11:03:29 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Washington describes first day of negotiations between Scott Bessent and He Lifeng as ‘very constructive’
The US and China kicked off high-stakes trade talks in Malaysia on Saturday that Washington described as “very constructive” ahead of Donald Trump’s trip to Asia for a summit with Xi Jinping.
Following weeks of mounting tensions between the world’s two biggest economies, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng held negotiations in Kuala Lumpur that will help shape the outcome of the summit on Thursday.
This month Beijing announced sweeping export controls on rare earths, prompting Trump to threaten an extra 100 per cent tariff on Chinese imports from November 1 and raising the risk of a return to a full-blown trade war.
The talks take place a day after the US trade representative’s office launched a probe into whether Beijing had complied with a trade deal agreed in Trump’s first term, in a move that could lead to further duties on Chinese imports.
At the end of the first day of talks between He and Bessent, a Treasury spokesperson said the talks had been “very constructive”.
Trump is heading to Malaysia to meet south-east Asian leaders on the first leg of a week-long Asia trip that includes stops in Japan and South Korea, where he will meet Xi.
Speaking aboard Air Force One on his way to Malaysia, Trump said that the US and China would both have to make concessions to reach a trade deal.
“Sure they’ll have to make concessions. I guess we will too,” Trump said. “We’re at 157 per cent tariff for them. I don’t think that’s sustainable for them. They want to get that down, and we want certain things from them.”
Asked what odds he would put on imposing the additional 100 per cent levies on...
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
China is like Russia, in that neither can be trusted.
China is a far greater threat than Russia.
True.
All the rumors have it that Xi is sweating out disgruntled peasants, an endangered economy and enemies in the tall weeds in his Party.
So that would mean he would try to be extra tough and defiant against the US.
Or the rumors are false.
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