Rubio meets China's Wang amid trade tensions, says good chance of Trump-Xi talks
By Daphne Psaledakis and Danial Azhar
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday he had "positive and constructive" talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as the two major powers vied to push their agendas in Asia at a time of tension over Washington's tariff offensive.
The top U.S. diplomat was in Malaysia on his first Asia trip since taking office, seeking to stress the U.S. commitment to the region at the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum, where many countries were reeling from a raft of steep U.S. tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump this week.
Rubio had his first in-person talks with China's foreign minister, which came after Beijing warned Washington against reinstating hefty levies on its goods next month and threatened retaliation against nations that strike deals with the U.S. to cut China out of supply chains.
Wang sharply criticised Washington during talks with Asian counterparts in Malaysia, calling the U.S. tariffs "typical unilateral bullying behavior".
But both sides described their bilateral meeting as positive and constructive on Friday. And Rubio said the odds of Trump meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping were high.
"We're two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on. I think there's some areas of potential cooperation and I thought it was a very constructive, positive meeting, and a lot of work to do," he told reporters.
Rubio emphasised that his sit-down with Wang was not a negotiation, but rather about establishing a constructive baseline to continue talks.
Rubio noted Trump had been invited to visit China, and added: "It's a visit he wants to undertake, and so we'll work on finding the right date for that, but I'm sure it'll happen because the president – both presidents - want it to happen."
"We have to build the right atmosphere and build ... deliverables, so that a visit isn't just a visit, but it actually has some takeaways from it that are concrete," he said.
China's Foreign Ministry said Wang had emphasised that both countries should translate consensus reached by their leaders into policies and actions.
"Both sides agreed that the meeting was positive, pragmatic and constructive," it said.
TRIP OVERSHADOWED BY TARIFFS
Rubio's visit was part of an effort to renew U.S. focus on the Indo-Pacific region and look beyond conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the administration's attention since Trump's return to office in January.
But this was overshadowed by this week's announcement of steep U.S. tariffs on imports from many Asian countries and U.S. allies, including 25% targeting Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, 32% for Indonesia, 36% for Thailand and Cambodia and 40% on goods from Myanmar and Laos.
China, initially singled out with levies exceeding 100%, has until August 12 to reach a deal with Washington to avoid Trump's reinstating additional import curbs imposed during tit-for-tat tariff exchanges in April and May.
Analysts said Rubio would use the trip to press the case that the United States remains a better partner than China, Washington's main strategic rival. Rubio met his counterparts from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia on Friday.
Southeast Asia expert Murray Hiebert, from Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it was positive Rubio had made his first Indo-Pacific trip, but his pledge about U.S. engagement was undercut by Trump's treatment of key friends and partners on tariffs.
"This made it much easier for Wang Yi to talk about China's stable and reliable economic relations," he said.
Wang rebuked the United States in Kuala Lumpur, saying no country should support or agree with its tariffs, according to remarks released by Beijing on Friday.
He told Thailand's foreign minister the tariffs had been abused and "undermined the free trade system, and interfered with the stability of the global production and supply chain."
During a meeting with his Cambodian counterpart, Wang said the U.S. levies were an attempt to deprive Southeast Asian countries of their legitimate right to development.
"We believe that Southeast Asian countries have the ability to cope with complex situations, adhere to principled positions, and safeguard their own interests," he said.
In a joint communique, ASEAN foreign ministers expressed concern over rising global trade tensions and called for a transparent and fair multilateral trading system.
Without mentioning the United States, they said unilateral tariffs were "counterproductive and risk exacerbating global economic fragmentation".
INDISPENSABLE PARTNERSHIP
Rubio also met Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday and said he and Lavrov shared some ideas on a new or different Russian approach on Ukraine.
"I don't want to oversell it, OK, but it was constructive," he said on Friday. "We'll find out, but there are some things that we will potentially explore, and I relayed that to the president and our team last night."
Rubio also met Japan's foreign minister and South Korea's first vice foreign minister to discuss strengthening their "indispensable trilateral partnership", the U.S. State Department said.
Asked about Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's remarks on Thursday that Tokyo needs to wean itself off of its dependence on Washington, Rubio said it was not a comment to be viewed negatively.
"We obviously have very strong commitments and an alliance with Japan. We continue to cooperate very closely with them," he said.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Nikkei Asia
an hour ago
- Nikkei Asia
US and EU agree to 15% tariffs, $600bn in investments from Europe
TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) -- The United States struck a framework trade agreement with the European Union on Sunday, imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods, half the threatened rate, and averting a bigger trade war between two allies that account for almost a third of global trade. U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal at Trump's luxury golf course in western Scotland after an hourlong meeting that pushed the hard-fought deal over the line. "I think this is the biggest deal ever made," Trump told reporters, lauding EU plans to invest some $600 billion in the United States and dramatically increase its purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment. Trump said the deal, which tops a $550 billion deal signed with Japan last week, would expand ties between the trans-Atlantic powers after years of what he called unfair treatment of U.S. exporters. Von der Leyen, describing Trump as a tough negotiator, said the 15% tariff applied "across the board," later telling reporters it was "the best we could get." "We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability," she said. The deal, which Trump said calls for $750 billion of EU purchases of U.S. energy in coming years and "hundreds of billions of dollars" of arms purchases, likely spells good news for a host of EU companies, including Airbus, Mercedes-Benz and Novo Nordisk, if all the details hold. The baseline 15% tariff will still be seen by many in Europe as too high, compared with Europe's initial hopes to secure a zero-for-zero tariff deal, though it is better than the threatened 30% rate. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the deal, saying it averted a trade conflict that would have hit Germany's export-driven economy and its large auto sector hard. German carmakers Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW were some of the hardest hit by the 27.5% U.S. tariff on car and parts imports now in place. But Bernd Lange, the German Social Democrat who heads the European Parliament's trade committee, said the tariffs were imbalanced and the hefty EU investment earmarked for the U.S. would likely come at the bloc's own expense. The euro rose around 0.2% against the dollar, sterling and yen within an hour of the deal's being announced. The deal mirrors key parts of the framework accord reached by the U.S. with Japan last week, but like that deal, it leaves many questions open, including tariff rates on spirits, a highly charged topic for many on both sides of the Atlantic. Carsten Nickel, deputy director of research at Teneo, said it was "merely a high-level, political agreement" that could not replace a carefully hammered-out trade deal: "This, in turn, creates the risk of different interpretations along the way, as seen immediately after the conclusion of the U.S.-Japan deal." "We are agreeing that the tariff ... for automobiles, and everything else will be a straight-across tariff of 15%," Trump said, but he quickly added that a 50% U.S. tariff on steel and aluminum will remain in place. Von der Leyen said that tariff would be cut and replaced with a quota system. Von der Leyen said the rate also applied to semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, and there would be no tariffs from either side on aircraft and aircraft parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products, natural resources, and critical raw materials. Trump appeared to suggest pharmaceuticals would not be covered, leaving some question about that aspect of the deal. No fact sheet was immediately issued by the White House. "We will keep working to add more products to this list," von der Leyen said, adding that spirits were still under discussion. Eric Winograd, chief economist at AllianceBernstein in New York, noted the similarity with Japan's U.S. deal. "We will need to see how long the sides stick to the deal. From a market perspective, it is reassuring in the sense that having a deal is better than not having a deal," he said. The deal will be sold as a triumph for Trump, who is seeking to reorder the global economy and reduce decades-old U.S. trade deficits, and has already reached similar framework accords with Britain, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although his administration has not hit its goal of "90 deals in 90 days." He has periodically railed against the European Union, saying it was "formed to screw the United States" on trade. Arriving in Scotland, Trump said the EU wanted "to make a deal very badly" and said, as he met von der Leyen, that Europe had been "very unfair to the United States." Trump has fumed for years about the U.S. merchandise trade deficit with the EU, which in 2024 reached $235 billion, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The EU points to the U.S. surplus in services, which it says partially redresses the balance. Now he argues, his tariffs are bringing in "hundreds of billions of dollars" of revenues for the U.S., while dismissing warnings from economists about the risk of inflation. On July 12, Trump threatened to apply a 30% tariff on imports from the EU starting on Aug. 1, after weeks of negotiations with the major U.S. trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal. The EU had prepared countertariffs on 93 billion euros ($109 billion) of U.S. goods in the event there was no deal, and Trump made good his 30% tariff threat. Some member states had also pushed for the bloc to use its most powerful trade weapon, the Anti-Coercion Instrument, to target U.S. services in the event of a no-deal.
Nikkei Asia
2 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Thailand's slumping tourism sector weighs on dismal stock market
BANGKOK -- Declining foreign visitor numbers have hammered Thailand's tourism-related stocks, from airlines to hoteliers and retailers, further weighing down an equity market that has underperformed its regional peers. Although share prices have risen over the past couple of weeks -- a Thai government travel subsidy program began this month -- analysts say the outlook remains uncertain. Two big reasons are the slumping numbers of Chinese tourists, once the industry's mainstay, and Thai consumers losing their willingness to spend. And the escalating border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia could also pose a threat to the industry.
Nikkei Asia
3 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Young Chinese 'almost forget' aspirations amid demographic tumult
People buy street food at a night market stall in Dunhuang, Gansu province, China, on Oct. 15, 2024. The job market is challenging even for doctors, so some have opened their own food stalls. © Reuters Ilaria Maria Sala is a Hong Kong-based freelance journalist and writer, focusing on societal changes, cities, heritage and cultural developments. Cheung Hok Hang is a freelance journalist with a focus on art markets and cultural developments. Zhao Laoshi, or Teacher Zhao, runs a small breakfast canteen in Shenzhen, selling cheong fun steamed rice rolls, a popular southern-Chinese snack, often eaten with warm soy milk. His tiny, 15-square-meter shop would seem much like any other if it were not for a piano placed in the back. The deal is this: Play a song on the piano and get a free cheong fun.
