President Donald Trump shakes arms with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung as he receives a present of a gold crown and an award of the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, not seen, throughout a excessive honor ceremony on the Gyeongju Nationwide Museum in Gyeongju, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
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President Trump is again in Washington after spending per 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.
Listed here are 5 takeaways from the president’s first go to to the area in his second time period.
1) U.S.-China commerce relations have principally stabilized…
On the flight again to Washington after his assembly with Xi on Thursday, Trump stated the tariff fee on Chinese language exports can be lowered from 57% to 47%. The ten-point drop comes as a result of Xi dedicated to making an attempt to lower the quantity of fentanyl coming into the U.S. That challenge has been a precedence for Trump, who months in the past put an additional 20% tariff on China due to fentanyl.
Trump additionally stated that China would resume shopping for soybeans from the U.S., which has been a serious challenge for American farmers since China had halted these purchases.
China additionally agreed to again off the additional limits it had placed on uncommon earths exports, in alternate for the U.S. scaling again a few of its personal export restrictions. That settlement will maintain for a 12 months.
These minerals are crucial for the U.S. and different nations as a result of they’re utilized in army tools and different know-how.
2) However a finalized deal is not accomplished
“It was an outstanding group of decisions I think that was made,” Trump instructed reporters after his assembly with Xi, “There wasn’t too much left out there.”
However he wasn’t particular about what precisely is left for China and the U.S. to debate.
Trump stated he’s scheduled to go to China subsequent April, which might be adopted by one other assembly with Xi in both Washington or in Florida.
Dennis Wilder, a former nationwide safety official and a professor at Georgetown College, stated the assembly between Trump and Xi gave “momentum” for commerce talks between the 2 nations to proceed.
“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 stated.
3) Diplomacy = flattery
A attraction offensive was on full show in Malaysia, Japan and Korea as leaders tried to cater to Trump forward of commerce talks and different negotiations. Trump’s model of overseas relations is commonly rooted in private relationships; heads of state, when visiting Washington, have tried to appease Trump to have a smoother relationship with the president.
That technique got here ahead in Asia, too. Practically 100 dancers in Malaysia greeted Trump on the crimson carpet at his first cease. In Japan, Trump was gifted late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s golf golf equipment and the newly elected prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, introduced that she was going to appoint Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Dancers carry out as President Donald Trump boards Air Power One at Kuala Lumpur Worldwide Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, as he departs for Japan, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
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Trump’s arrival in South Korea was additionally filled with fanfare – YMCA, a tune that is performed at Trump’s rallies for almost a decade, was carried out on the tarmac in Busan when Air Power One landed. President Lee Jae Myung gave Trump a duplicate of a golden crown important to Korea’s historical past. Trump additionally obtained a gold medal and was awarded Korea’s highest civilian honor.
4) Trump desires to be seen as a peacemaker
Trump has renamed the Division of Protection because the Division of Warfare, he is deployed Nationwide Guard troops round totally different U.S. cities and in current weeks, he has ordered strikes on a lot of boats within the japanese Pacific allegedly carrying medicine.
However on this journey in Asia, Trump wished to emphasise his function as a peacemaker.
His first cease in Malaysia on the ASEAN summit included presiding over the signing of a peace settlement between Cambodia and Thailand. A border dispute reignited between the 2 nations earlier this 12 months, and Trump helped dealer a ceasefire by threatening to extend tariffs.
In his remarks in Kuala Lumpur, Trump stated he was in Scotland enjoying golf when he obtained on the cellphone with the leaders from Cambodia and Thailand, and Malaysia, who additionally helped dealer 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 stated.
Even earlier than the journey, Trump had been claiming his administration has ended eight international conflicts. Russia’s warfare in Ukraine hasn’t been one in every of them, which has pissed off Trump.
But it surely’s potential he provides one other battle to unravel to his peacemaking listing. Although he did not meet with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un whereas in Asia, Trump left the door open for a future assembly and stated his administration would work on tensions between North and South Korea, who by no means formally ended their warfare.
5) Trump’s making offers overseas, however Congress remains to be at a standstill
Regardless of the deal-making and peace-making on the world’s stage, Trump got here residence to a federal authorities that is nonetheless shut down, federal staff who do not get paid and important applications like SNAP working out of funding. The president hasn’t proven the identical curiosity in making offers throughout the aisle with Democrats to reopen the federal government.
As a substitute, he returned to Washington Thursday night time and mused on Fact Social about utilizing the “nuclear option,” which he stated can be to eliminate the filibuster. That may permit Senate Republicans to cross a funding settlement with a easy majority, not a 60-vote majority that may require assist 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 stated, including that ending the filibuster would “take advantage” of Democrats. Democrats have refused to vote in favor of the settlement to quickly fund the federal government until it features a measure that may lengthen the tax credit score that lowers the price of medical insurance premiums, which is ready to run out on the finish of the 12 months.
