Trump in Asia updates: US president optimistic about China deal

Thank you for joining our live coverage of the first day of Trump’s trip to Asia.

You can read our news story about what happened at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia here.

And you can also check out our piece from the protest against Trump’s visit to Kuala Lumpur here.

We’ll be closing this live page soon, so let’s bring you up to speed with today’s main developments:

• US President Donald Trump is among the dozens of leaders to have travelled to Malaysia to attend the 47th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
• A small but vocal demonstration has been staged in Kuala Lumpur to protest against Trump’s visit and the support the US has been providing to Israel in its war on Gaza.
• On the sidelines of the summit in Kuala Lumpur, Trump has overseen the signing of a peace accord between Thailand and Cambodia and met his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
• Trump says he is confident of reaching a trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet later this week as top Chinese and US economic officials have agreed on the framework for an agreement.
• The ASEAN summit saw the incorporation of East Timor, Asia’s newest nation, as the 11th member of the organisation.

We have more comments from the secretary of the US Treasury, who’s been giving interviews following his talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Kuala Lumpur.

In an interview with the ABC News programme This Week, Scott Bessent said the US threat of a 100 percent tariff hike on Chinese goods had effectively been taken off the table in exchange for Beijing deferring curbs on its global rare earth exports.

On the export controls, China will “delay that for a year while they reexamine it”, added Bessent.

He said China had also agreed on “substantial” purchases from US farmers.

“I believe, when the announcement of the deal with China is made public, that our soybean farmers will feel very good,” Bessent said.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters have rallied in Kuala Lumpur against Trump’s visit, accusing him of complicity in genocide in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Watch our video report below:

Myanmar’s acting president, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, is not attending the ASEAN summit.

The country will also not take the helm as next year’s ASEAN chair because it has been embroiled in a four-year civil war. Instead, the role will fall to the Philippines.

In 2021, ASEAN issued a Five-Point Consensus, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Myanmar and humanitarian assistance while creating a special ASEAN envoy to help mediate the conflict. Four years later, critics said it has had little impact on the crisis.

Charles Santiago, co-chairman of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that he expected Myanmar and the fallout from the war to be discussed at the summit.

“Myanmar has become a destabilising factor, both [in terms of] security and social cohesion in the other parts of Southeast Asia,” he said. The civil war has facilitated the spread of the flow of drugs and weapons while creating a refugee crisis, he added.

Still, Santiago said he did not expect much to come from the ASEAN summit. “This will be a major photo opportunity for everybody,” he said, but “nothing much will happen” in terms of policy.

The ASEAN summit is accompanied annually by the East Asia Summit, a gathering of leaders of the ASEAN nations, the US, China, India, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

This year, Trump, Li, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon are among those attending with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking part virtually.

Beyond the leaders of ASEAN and the East Asia Summit nations, Brazil’s Lula, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are in Kuala Lumpur too.

Amir Fareed Rahim, an analyst at KRA Group, said the number of world leaders and delegations attending the ASEAN summit points to the growing significance of Southeast Asia to other trade blocs.

“The fact that ASEAN leaders are here, ASEAN dialogue partners are here, is showing that this region of 680 million population, $3.8 trillion combined GDP, is something that should be on everyone’s radar,” he told Al Jazeera.

We have some comments from Chinese Premier Li Qiang during a meeting with acting Singapore President Eddie Teo in the city-state before his arrival today in Malaysia to attend the ASEAN summit.

Li said China is ready to work with Singapore and members of ASEAN to make a free trade deal a “success” and help achieve greater development.

“China is willing to maintain close communication and coordination with Singapore within multilateral mechanisms, to work together to uphold multilateralism and free trade, and promote an equal and orderly multipolar world as well as a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation,” Li added, according to the state-run Xinhua News agency.

He said China aims to bolster high-level exchanges and strategic communication with Singapore and stressed collaboration in areas such as the digital economy, green development and artificial intelligence.

This is the moment East Timor was officially declared ASEAN’s 11th member, in what Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao calls a “historic moment”:

Tengku Zafrul Aziz, the trade minister of Malaysia, says the country has secured tariff exemptions for some of its exports to the US.

State news agency Bernama quoted the minister as listing palm oil, cocoa and rubber products among the exempted goods.

Tengku Zafrul expressed satisfaction with the trade agreement signed with the US, noting that Malaysia is open to investments from other countries.

Here are a few highlights published in recent hours:

• Protests: Trump’s visit to Malaysia met with demonstrations over war on Gaza
• ‘Dream realised’: East Timor becomes ASEAN’s 11th member
• ASEAN summit: Who’s attending and what to expect
• Peace accord: Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire pact signed at Malaysia summit
• Video: Trump dances with performers after landing in Malaysia

And there’s plenty more here.

The Brazilian president has now commented on his meeting with his US counterpart, describing it as “frank” and “constructive”.

Lula said he and Trump agreed to dispatch their teams to seek “solutions to the tariffs and sanctions against Brazilian authorities”.

Tive uma ótima reunião com o presidente Trump na tarde deste domingo, na Malásia. Discutimos de forma franca e construtiva a agenda comercial e econômica bilateral. Acertamos que nossas equipes vão se reunir imediatamente para avançar na busca de soluções para as tarifas e as… pic.twitter.com/aTXZthrb9Z

— Lula (@LulaOficial) October 26, 2025

Translation: I had a great meeting with President Trump on Sunday afternoon in Malaysia. We discussed the bilateral trade and economic agenda in a frank and constructive manner. We agreed that our teams will meet immediately to advance in the search for solutions to the tariffs and sanctions against Brazilian authorities.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters have held demonstrations opposing Trump’s presence in Malaysia for the ASEAN summit.

Protesters gathered in Kuala Lumpur’s Independence Square and the Ampang Park area of the city in separate demonstrations on Sunday morning and evening, some wearing keffiyehs and chanting, “Free, free Palestine.”

“People who have a conscience know that Trump is a genocide enabler. Without him, Israel cannot kill all the children and people in Gaza,” one protester, Asma Hanim Mahoud, told Al Jazeera.

“It’s not rocket science.”

Read the full report here.

As in the case with Vietnam we reported on earlier, the US has announced a framework for an agreement on reciprocal trade with Thailand.

Under the framework, the US would maintain a 19 percent tariff on Thai products while identifying products where tariffs could potentially be adjusted or cut to zero, according to a joint statement issued by the White House.

Thailand would, in turn, remove tariff barriers on some 99 percent of goods, covering a full range of US industrial, food and agricultural products.

The joint statement also said Thailand is committed to addressing barriers to US exports, including the acceptance of US-made vehicles.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• US President Donald Trump is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, joining more than a dozen regional and world leaders for the 47th ASEAN summit.
• Hours after arriving at the event, Trump has presided over the signing of a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia.
• East Timor has become ASEAN’s 11th member state, and its flag has been raised at a ceremony at the bloc’s annual summit.
• Trump has signed trade deals with Malaysia and Cambodia as well as a minerals deal with Thailand. The US and Vietnam have announced a planned trade framework that will “provide both countries’ exporters unprecedented access to each other’s markets”.
• Trump has spoken with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the summit and says he expects their two countries to strike good trade deals and enjoy strong ties. Lula has offered to help mediate between the US and Venezuela.

The US Treasury secretary has given more comments about US-China trade relations.

In an interview with the US TV network NBC, he said the two sides will discuss a more balanced trade set-up that would likely avert a 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods.

Bessent also expressed optimism that China would offer deferrals on restrictions on rare earth minerals that have angered Trump, help get the US fentanyl crisis under control and increase purchases of US soya beans, all topics Trump and Xi plan to discuss in person.

Together, the countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are an economic powerhouse with a combined economy of $3.8 trillion and a population of more than 670 million people.

Watch our quick breakdown of the bloc’s trade status, influence and challenges below: