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Trump Arrives in Malaysia in 1st Stop of Multi-City Asia Visit
The president will also stop in Japan and South Korea to discuss peace agreements, trade, security, and defense.
President Donald Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speak on the tarmac at Kuala Lumpur airport on Oct. 26, 2025. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times
Travis Gillmore
10/25/2025|Updated: 10/26/2025
KUALA LUMPUR—President Donald Trump landed in Malaysia’s capital city on Oct. 26 to kick off a multifaceted tour of Asia that also includes stops in Japan and South Korea.
The trip marks the president’s first visit to the continent since moving back into the White House.
Trade agreement negotiations with foreign leaders throughout the trip will include elements to bolster American workers and businesses, secure critical mineral deals, and improve supply chain resiliency, a senior U.S. official told reporters during a briefing call on Oct. 24.
“These will further reshape the global economic order and secure more investments that will create high-paying jobs and advance the re-industrialization of America,” the senior official said.
A bilateral discussion with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, one of the first items on the agenda, is expected to revolve around trade and security, with a focus on a recently negotiated peace deal between the governments of Thailand and Cambodia.
“President Trump will preside over a significant peace agreement that will save more lives, reduce more conflict, and advance security across a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the official said.
Trump praised Malaysian officials for helping mediate the peace deal.
“It’s one of the reasons I’m going to Malaysia is they were very much involved in that, the whole thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Kuala Lumpur. “I told the leader of Malaysia, who’s a very good man, I said, ‘I think I owe you a trip,’ and that’s why we’re stopping in Malaysia, for that reason.”
Japan
After meeting with Ibrahim, the president will attend a working dinner with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders before jetting off to Japan on Monday.
Japanese Emperor Naruhito will welcome Trump upon his arrival, with no public events scheduled, as of publication time.
On Tuesday, the president will meet with newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi—she won the support of Japan’s lower house of parliament on Oct. 21, making her the first woman elected to the position.
“I hear great things about her. I think she’s going to be great,” Trump said.
Takaichi is seen as a successor to assassinated Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whom she was close friends with.
“He liked her a lot. She liked him a lot,” Trump said. “So that’s a good sign. I look forward to meeting her.”
He approved of reports that Takaichi will present a plan to purchase Ford F-150 pickup trucks.
“Well that’s great, she has good taste,” Trump said. “That’s a hot truck.”
The prime minister spoke with Trump while he was en route to Asia. She later described the call in positive terms.
“Had a good and candid conversation with [Trump] today and truly appreciated his warm congratulatory message on my appointment as Prime Minister,” she posted Oct. 25 on X. “Together with him, I am determined to elevate the Japan-U.S. Alliance to even greater heights.”
Some analysts see Trump’s visit as a sign that he prioritizes U.S-Japanese relations during a period of instability in Japan’s political structure.
Kristi Govella, senior advisor and Japan chair for the Center for Strategic International Studies, recently wrote about the island nation’s political challenges, including that Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party lost its longstanding majority in both of the country’s parliamentary houses.
A coalition with Japan’s Innovation Party in recent weeks helped spur her victory.
Govella wrote that she expects Trump to emphasize Japan’s intention to invest $550 billion in the United States over the course of his second presidency. It’s “arguably one of the most substantial outcomes of his recent tariff policies and negotiations,” she wrote.
Highlighting the capabilities of a strong Japan–U.S. partnership could also provide Trump with negotiating leverage when dealing with China, she noted.
China
Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on the third and final leg of his journey.
“We have a lot of things to discuss, including our farmers, various trade deals that have been made in the past—some broken, some not broken—we have many many things,” Trump said, expressing optimism that the meeting will end well while also suggesting both sides will make compromises to forge an agreement.
“They’ll have to make concessions. I guess we will, too,” Trump said, pinpointing the current 157 percent tariffs—a combination of levies imposed by Trump this year—as one potential point of negotiation.
“I don’t think that’s sustainable for them. They want to get that down, and we want certain things from them.”
China could assist with efforts to put pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine by limiting purchases of Russian oil and gas, he said.
“We put very big sanctions on Russia. I think those sanctions are going to be very biting, very strong, but I’d like to see China
help us out,” Trump said.
Xi’s actions in recent weeks, including export controls on rare earth minerals and tit-for-tat port fee increases with the United States, suggest an offensive posture, according to some analysts.
Regardless of whether one views Beijing’s move as a reaction or a provocation, it was a calculated gambit by Xi to take the initiative in the bilateral relationship,” Jonathan Czin, former intelligence agency China expert and current fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote in a recent article that suggested China is seeking gains regarding technology and Taiwan.
It is unclear if existing moratoriums on technology exports are on the table.
Taiwan is another potential point of concern during the discussion. The United States has long held a position of support for Taiwan’s independence but China might have a window of opportunity to address the issue, according to Czin.
“Beijing would have interpreted these accommodations not as gestures of goodwill but as a sign that it had the upper hand,” Czin said.
Trump warned communist China against making any moves against Taiwan.
“I hope they won’t,” Trump said. “It would be very dangerous for them to do.”
While a comprehensive trade deal is seen as unlikely, a de-escalation to the existing trade-war would benefit both nations, Victor Cha, president of the CSIS geopolitics and foreign policy department, told reporters during the Oct. 24 briefing.
“If we see progress, it will be on solving these sort of small, bilateral irritants that have essentially come from many different rounds of lobs of the tariff war,” Cha said.
“U.S. farm interests are going to be top of the agenda for the president.”
Soybean purchases, limited by China since May, are another expected priority point. Soybean harvests are underway in the United States, the second largest exporter globally, totaling nearly $52 billion in sales in the last growing season.
American farmers are on the hook for potentially “enormous losses and lots of bankruptcies” if they can’t export their crops this year, according to Phillip Luck, director of the economics program and Scholl chair in international business at CSIS.
“Soybeans are relatively storable but basically, we’ve got a few months here to solve this,” Luck said.
Korea
Other bilateral meetings are scheduled for South Korea, and more opportunities to meet with foreign leaders are possible, depending on the circumstances.
The president told reporters he is “100 percent” willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if time permits, and if the communist head of state reaches out first.
“I’m open to it,” Trump said, noting North Korea’s limited communication network. “They have a lot of nuclear weapons but not a lot of telephone service.”
A tariff deal with South Korea is also in the works.
“It’s pretty close to being finalized,” Trump said. “If they have it ready, I’m ready.”
The leaders will meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference. The gathering is themed “Building a Sustainable Tomorrow,” with a goal of developing long-term stability through interconnectedness.
“For Southeast Asia, what is at stake is preserving room to maneuver and strategic autonomy,” Lynn Kuok, of the Brookings Institution, wrote. “For the United States, it is maintaining influence in the geographic heart of the Indo-Pacific by engaging broadly and loudly.”
Trump will meet with foreign leaders to discuss trade and security, among other issues, amid a backdrop of multilateral economic conferences.
The ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2025 is taking place from Oct. 26 to Oct. 28 in Kuala Lumpur.
“This gathering reflects our shared determination to strengthen economic cooperation and to advance a forward-looking U.S.–ASEAN partnership that delivers meaningful outcomes for our businesses and our people,” Kao Kim Hourn, ASEAN’s secretary general, said Oct. 26 during introductory remarks to open meetings held alongside the summit.
He thanked the United States for its unprecedented support of ASEAN—with financial assistance totaling $42.13 billion, representing nearly 19 percent of the organization’s foreign direct investment.
Two-way trade between the United States and ASEAN-affiliated nations totaled $452.3 billion last year, according to Hourn.
“These achievements speak to the strength of our economic ties and the tangible results of our collaboration under the comprehensive strategic partnership,” he said.
“Together, we can build resilient, efficient, and sustainable supply chains that enhance regional integration and contribute to shared prosperity.”
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From The Epoch Times
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