As US President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since 2019, he’s coming off the back of what many in his administration will view as triumphant tour of South East Asia.
Wed 29 Oct 2025 16.00
Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch
In Malaysia, he pitched himself again for the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming credit for the ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia (never mind that it was largely mediated and delivered by Malaysia). He made his role in signing the ceasefire a condition of his visit to Malaysia, once again upstaging his host.
In Japan, he addressed US troops and crowed about Japanese investment in America. He also signed critical minerals deals with both Japan and Malaysia (newsflash: we aren’t special).
But as usual with Trump, the devil is in the (lack of) detail. Malaysia seems to have only promised to not do something: it “committed to refrain from banning, or imposing quotas on, exports to the United States of critical minerals or rare earth elements”.
Same with Japan, where the two nations agreed only to “support the supply of raw and processed critical minerals and rare earths crucial to the domestic industries of the United States and Japan.”
Xi is many things, but silly is not one of them – he knows who he’s dealing with. Trump might think he’s walking into the meeting with the upper hand after all this deal making and his promises of a great new deal with China. We can never really know how these things will go, but it seems likely Xi will give Trump his deal, in the full knowledge that Trump only wants the glory and a photo op.
In the words of Matt Duss from the Centre for International Policy in Washington, D.C.: “You can’t trust Donald Trump. But you can trust Donald Trump to be Donald Trump.”
The President’s self-interest is usually at the heart of his “deals”. We’ll know more after their meeting on Thursday, but as always – treat Trump’s big announcements with the scepticism they deserve.
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