5 key takeaways from Trump's week in Asia

President Trump is back in Washington after spending a week in Asia. He attended the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, addressed U.S. troops in Japan and met with China's President Xi Jinping in South Korea.

Here are five takeaways from the president's first visit to the region in his second term.

1) U.S.-China trade relations have mostly stabilized…

On the flight back to Washington after his meeting with Xi on Thursday, Trump said the tariff rate on Chinese exports would be lowered from 57% to 47%. The 10-point drop comes because Xi committed to trying to decrease the amount of fentanyl coming into the U.S. That issue has been a priority for Trump, who months ago put an extra 20% tariff on China because of fentanyl.

Trump also said that China would resume buying soybeans from the U.S., which has been a major issue for American farmers since China had halted those purchases.

China also agreed to back off the extra limits it had put on rare earths exports, in exchange for the U.S. scaling back some of its own export restrictions. That agreement will hold for a year.

Those minerals are critical for the U.S. and other countries because they are used in military equipment and other technology.

2) But a finalized deal isn't done

"It was an outstanding group of decisions I think that was made," Trump told reporters after his meeting with Xi, "There wasn't too much left out there."

But he wasn't specific about what exactly is left for China and the U.S. to discuss.

Trump said he is scheduled to visit China next April, which will be followed by another meeting with Xi in either Washington or in Florida.

Dennis Wilder, a former national security official and a professor at Georgetown University, said the meeting between Trump and Xi gave "momentum" for trade talks between the two countries to continue.

"Both sides have not given up their trade weapons but merely have agreed to stop firing as long as both sides hold to the agreements," Wilder said.

3) Diplomacy = flattery

A charm offensive was on full display in Malaysia, Japan and Korea as leaders tried to cater to Trump ahead of trade talks and other negotiations. Trump's style of foreign relations is often rooted in personal relationships; heads of state, when visiting Washington, have tried to appease Trump to have a smoother relationship with the president.

That strategy came forward in Asia, too. Nearly 100 dancers in Malaysia greeted Trump on the red carpet at his first stop. In Japan, Trump was gifted late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe's golf clubs and the newly elected prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, announced that she was going to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dancers perform as President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, as he departs for Japan, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.

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Mark Schiefelbein

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Trump's arrival in South Korea was also full of fanfare – YMCA, a song that's played at Trump's rallies for nearly a decade, was performed on the tarmac in Busan when Air Force One landed. President Lee Jae Myung gave Trump a replica of a golden crown significant to Korea's history. Trump also got a gold medal and was awarded Korea's highest civilian honor.

4) Trump wants to be seen as a peacemaker

Trump has renamed the Department of Defense as the Department of War, he's deployed National Guard troops around different U.S. cities and in recent weeks, he has ordered strikes on a number of boats in the eastern Pacific allegedly carrying drugs.

But on this trip in Asia, Trump wanted to emphasize his role as a peacemaker.

His first stop in Malaysia at the ASEAN summit included presiding over the signing of a peace agreement between Cambodia and Thailand. A border dispute reignited between the two countries earlier this year, and Trump helped broker a ceasefire by threatening to increase tariffs.

In his remarks in Kuala Lumpur, Trump said he was in Scotland playing golf when he got on the phone with the leaders from Cambodia and Thailand, and Malaysia, who also helped broker peace.

"You caused me very good entertainment. I could've had a lot of fun, but this is much more fun for me than anything," Trump said.

Even before the trip, Trump had been claiming his administration has ended eight global conflicts. Russia's war in Ukraine hasn't been one of them, which has frustrated Trump.

But it's possible he adds another conflict to solve to his peacemaking list. Though he didn't meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un while in Asia, Trump left the door open for a future meeting and said his administration would work on tensions between North and South Korea, who never formally ended their war.

5) Trump's making deals abroad, but Congress is still at a standstill

Despite the deal-making and peace-making on the world's stage, Trump came home to a federal government that's still shut down, federal workers who aren't getting paid and critical programs like SNAP running out of funding. The president hasn't shown the same interest in making deals across the aisle with Democrats to reopen the government.

Instead, he returned to Washington Thursday night and mused on Truth Social about using the "nuclear option," which he said would be to get rid of the filibuster. That would allow Senate Republicans to pass a funding agreement with a simple majority, not a 60-vote majority that would require support from Democrats.

"We are in power and if we did what we should be doing, it would IMMEDIATELY end this ridiculous, Country destroying 'SHUT DOWN'," Trump said, adding that ending the filibuster would "take advantage" of Democrats. Democrats have refused to vote in favor of the agreement to temporarily fund the government unless it includes a measure that would extend the tax credit that lowers the cost of health insurance premiums, which is set to expire at the end of the year.
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