Trump Commences Asia Tour, Bringing Dealmaking Opportunities

US President Donald Trump has begun his trip across Asia, allowing him to make some major deals that could resolve conflicts, alleviate tariffs, and strengthen ties.

Trump's trip will cross Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and China across the span of almost one week, the latter of which is likely to be the most crucial. One of the most important points on Trump's agenda will be to strengthen US ties with Southeast Asia, where China has been working to assert their dominance in recent years.

This will be Trump's first visit to Southeast Asia since 2019, with the president visiting the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. His primary goals will be to sign a trade agreement with Malaysia, allowing them to avoid some of his reciprocal tariffs, and confirm a ceasefire deal between Thailand and Cambodia, which experienced violent border skirmishes earlier this year.

While Trump's only visit to Southeast Asia will be in Kuala Lumpur, the agreement he establishes with the Malaysian government will likely serve as a basis for his agreements with other countries in the region. He will also work against China's increasing influence in the area.

The president's second destination will be Japan, where he will meet the new Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, for the first time. There, he will work to finalize a trade deal to lower tariffs on Japan, in exchange for significant investments into the US economy over the next few years. Takaichi shares a similar stance to Trump on military and China, though, allowing them to build their new relationship on some sort of common ground.

Next, Trump will head to South Korea, where he signed a major trade deal several months ago. While the agreement was finalized, further negotiations over some of the more specific details of South Korea's investments were not fully established. Trump will work to clear up the uncertainty over the deal and further strengthen US-South Korea ties.

Finally, he will close out his tour with a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the South Korean city of Busan, where they will negotiate over several topics. China desires for the United States to decrease tariffs and reduce their export restrictions on technology, which have hindered American tech firms like Nvidia. Meanwhile, Trump has told Xi that he wishes for more Chinese investment into the US economy.

However, China maintains an all-powerful bargaining chip– access to critical minerals. China contains around 60-70% of the world's rare earth minerals and around 90% of the factories used to process them, giving them a tight grip over the critical minerals market. These minerals are used in every technology-related sector, ranging from electronics to big tech to AI to automobiles, and China possesses the ability to cut off the world's supply at any time.

While the US is attempting to circumvent this by striking deals with other nations, maintaining strong ties with China is crucial to keeping the American economy running, and this will be one of Trump's most important goals when he meets Xi later this week.

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Image credit to The New York Times