Trump heads to Asia for Xi talks, eyes Kim meeting

AFP | Aboard Air Force One

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US President Donald Trump headed for Asia yesterday and high-stakes trade talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, saying that he would also like to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his trip.

Trump is set to meet Xi in South Korea on the last day of his regional swing in a bid to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

He will also visit Malaysia and Japan on his first trip to Asia since he returned to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he hoped for a “very good meeting” with Xi, adding that he expected China to make a deal to avoid further 100 percent tariffs that are due to come into effect on November 1.

A US Treasury spokesman told AFP that US and Chinese officials in Malaysia concluded a day of “very constructive” trade talks, which are expected to resume on Sunday.

As he left Washington, Trump added to speculation that he could meet Kim for the first time since 2019 while on the Korean peninsula.

“I’m open to it,” Trump said aboard the presidential plane. “I had a great relationship with him.”

Asked if he was open to North Korea’s demand to be recognized as a nuclear state as a precondition for talks, Trump replied: “Well, I think they are sort of a nuclear power... They got a lot of nuclear weapons, I’ll say that.”

The two leaders last met in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas during Trump’s first term. Kim has said he would also be open to meeting the US president if Washington drops its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.