Shafaq News – Kuala Lumpur

On Saturday, senior US and Chinese officials opened trade talks in Kuala Lumpur to defuse tensions ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to Reuters, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit after Washington threatened 100% tariffs on Chinese goods starting November 1 in response to Beijing’s tighter rare earth export controls.

Read more: Trump: China holding world captive

Talks at Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka 118 tower are expected to set the stage for the Trump–Xi summit in South Korea on October 30, where both leaders will discuss tariffs, technology restrictions, and China’s suspension of US soybean imports.

The two countries are seeking to maintain a fragile trade truce reached in May that eased tariffs and reopened rare-earth exports but began to unravel after the US widened its export blacklist and China imposed new restrictions in retaliation.

Read more: China to impose fees on US ships in retaliation for American charges