SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
President Trump is about to leave Malaysia after attending the ASEAN Summit there. It was the first stop on his week-long visit to the Indo-Pacific region. Later, the president will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping about trade. A top U.S. trade official says a substantial framework has already been developed. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram is traveling with the president and joins us now from Kuala Lumpur. Hi, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hey there.
PEFEIFFER: Trump was in Malaysia for just - what? - for just 24 hours. What did he do while there?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, definitely a quick trip. So this summit is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the last time Trump attended was 2017. But this year, he said he mainly wanted to go because of a peace agreement that he helped broker in the region, and that happened earlier this year between Thailand and Cambodia. Those two countries were having a border dispute that reignited this past summer, which resulted in about five days of conflict. Dozens of people died. And Trump ended up telling both countries that he'd raise tariffs on them if they didn't stop the fighting. And that, along with Malaysia helping to negotiate, helped bring about this agreement that they dubbed the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This is a momentous day for all of the people of Southeast Asia, as we signed a historic agreement to end the military conflict between Cambodia and Thailand. And we're so honored to be involved. And that was so important to me. Two great countries, but they were - they were going at it.
SHIVARAM: Trump said he got on the phone with the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand while he was on a trip to Scotland in July. And he said that prevented him from a round of golf, but he somewhat jokingly said that brokering peace agreements and ending wars has become like a hobby of sorts. And Trump has been saying, you know, for a while now that he's ended eight wars in his second term, which he says includes this one between Cambodia and Thailand and, of course, the recent agreement between Israel and Hamas, as well.
PEFEIFFER: As we mentioned, he also has a meeting lined up with the leader of China. What does Trump want to get out of that meeting?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. I mean, he wants a trade deal. Lately, tensions between the U.S. and China, like, spiked again over trade when China announced they were going to further limit exports on rare earth minerals, which the U.S. really needs for technology, military equipment. Trump said that he could raise tariffs again on China by November 1. But the U.S. and China agreed to a framework for a trade deal that was announced just hours ago, though I will say nothing will be final until they meet. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told ABC News earlier that in the framework, that threat to increase tariffs from the U.S. won't necessarily come to fruition.
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SCOTT BESSENT: The president had given me maximum leverage when he threatened a hundred percent tariffs if the Chinese imposed their rare earth global export controls. So I think we have averted that.
SHIVARAM: Bessent also said that he expects China to revive buying U.S. soybeans, which they had paused in the trade war. But when China stopped buying soybeans from the U.S., it really strained American farmers, and that led to calls for a bailout just to help farmers to make up for that economic hit. And there are other issues that will maybe come up, as well - things like getting China to stop buying oil from Russia and, of course, fentanyl.
PEFEIFFER: So we mentioned that Trump's first stop was Malaysia. Where is he headed next?
SHIVARAM: He's headed to Tokyo next, and that's where he's going to meet with the newly elected prime minister there. They actually spoke over the phone on the flight over to Asia. And Trump said that that call went really well. And then after that, of course, Trump will head to Korea, where he's going to meet with Xi.
I will say there might be another meeting, though. Trump seems to be really open to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. That's not on the agenda, but he said he would do it on this trip. They last met at the DMZ, which is the Demilitarized Zone, in Trump's first term. They met for a handshake after Trump tweeted it out and suggested that they meet. And Trump says, you know, he's not been in touch with Kim, but that the North Korean leader knows that he's in the region, so maybe keep an eye out for some developments there.
PEFEIFFER: Deepa, I'm interested in your perspective on an interesting contrast here, which is Trump being so open to making trade deals and negotiations and brokering peace agreements abroad, whereas...
SHIVARAM: Yeah.
PEFEIFFER: ...In Washington, there's still no movement on reopening the government.
SHIVARAM: It's, you know, a really big contrast between Trump at home and Trump on the world stage, right? I will say he has been beefing with Canada on trade again, though, so that's maybe in a different category. But in regards to the government shutdown, you know, he said on the flight over to Malaysia that he'd be open to sitting down with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries after this trip is over. But in the same sentence, he was still critical of Democrats and called them lost souls.
And of course, at the same time, you know, food stamp benefits for tens of millions of Americans are set to expire next month. And there's a lot of other issues that have been coming up as well. Interestingly, though, there are some things that this administration is doing to sort of undermine the big pushes to reopen the government. For example, moving money around in the government to get payments for military members whose paychecks had been paused during the shutdown. And there are some ethical questions that have come up in the meantime there, as well.
PEFEIFFER: That is NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Thank you very much.
SHIVARAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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