{"id":3516,"date":"2025-07-12T06:07:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T06:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/3516\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T06:07:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T06:07:04","slug":"high-probability-trump-and-xi-will-meet-this-year-rubio-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/3516\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018High probability\u2019 Trump and Xi will meet this year, Rubio says"},"content":{"rendered":"

CNN
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n There is a \u201chigh probability\u201d that US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will meet this year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe odds are high,\u201d Rubio told journalists gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday. \u201cI think both sides want to see it happen.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Rubio said he was unable to provide a date for any potential meeting but said there was a \u201cstrong desire on both sides to do it.\u201d He added that it\u2019s necessary to build the \u201cright atmosphere\u201d ahead of any such meeting in order to enable concrete deliverables.\n <\/p>\n

\n The US top diplomat met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur on Friday for the first in-person meeting between the two foreign ministers, which comes as the US and China navigate trade frictions \u2013 and compete for influence in Asia.\n <\/p>\n

\n The roughly hour-long meeting was \u201cvery constructive\u201d and \u201cpositive,\u201d Rubio said on Friday evening local time.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019re two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on,\u201d Rubio said, adding \u201cI thought it was (a) very constructive, positive meeting, and (there\u2019s) a lot of work to do.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Both Rubio and Wang were attending regional meetings in the Malaysian capital this week, where foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, gathered alongside regional partners including Russia, Japan, South Korea and Australia.\n <\/p>\n

\n The US and China have endured fraught trade relations since Trump\u2019s return to office earlier this year, escalating and then de-escalating a tit-for-tat tariff spat sparked by the US president\u2019s global trade war and sparring over export controls.\n <\/p>\n

\n Tensions were eased as the two sides agreed to a trade framework<\/a> during talks between negotiators in London last month, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week he would meet with Chinese counterparts to continue discussions in the coming weeks. A 90-day pause negotiated between the two sides in May<\/a> was set to expire in August.\n <\/p>\n

\n Chinese officials have decried the US tariffs and threatened to retaliate if the US reaches deals with other trade partners at the expense of Chinese interests \u2013 a sign that Beijing sees the US as using agreements with other countries as a means to squeeze its economy.\n <\/p>\n

\n But both sides signaled that the meeting between Wang and Rubio was a productive one with a positive tone \u2013 and a step toward expanding cooperation, rather than frictions, between them.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Friday, Rubio said his meeting with Wang gave the two sides an opportunity to identify areas to work together, but he did not detail areas of possible cooperation.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThat was our message \u2013 that (we have) the opportunity here to achieve some strategic stability and identify areas where we can cooperate together on and build better communications and a working trust,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Chinese foreign ministry called Friday\u2019s meeting \u201cpositive, pragmatic and constructive\u201d in a statement published after Rubio spoke to the media.\n <\/p>\n

\n Both sides \u201cagreed to strengthen diplomatic channels and communication and dialogue at all levels in all fields,\u201d the statement said. It also said Wang reiterated calls for Washington to view China with an \u201cobjective, rational and pragmatic attitude\u201d and treat it in an \u201cequal\u201d manner.\n <\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s trade war has added a layer of complexity to Rubio\u2019s first trip to Asia as Washington\u2019s top diplomat. The US in recent days sent letters<\/a> to a number of countries announcing the tariff rates they would face in less than a month unless they strike trade deals with the US.\n <\/p>\n

\n Eight of the 10 countries in ASEAN \u2013 along with South Korea and Japan \u2013 will face tariffs from the US on August 1, if the implementation deadline holds.\n <\/p>\n

\n That\u2019s created an opening for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang, who has looked to project a message that China remains a stable economic partner for the region. In meetings with ASEAN counterparts Thursday, Wang said China \u201calways regards\u201d ASEAN as a \u201cpriority\u201d for China\u2019s regional diplomacy.\n <\/p>\n

\n US government officials have positioned Rubio\u2019s trip as part of an effort to show that Washington remains committed to the region, where China is a key economic partner but also has friction with nations like the Philippines over its aggression in the South China Sea.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn his first trip to Asia as secretary of state, Secretary Rubio is focused on reaffirming the United States\u2019 commitment to advancing a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific region,\u201d Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement earlier this week.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Friday, Rubio pushed back on the idea that US tariffs could create an opportunity for China economically in the region, and said Washington is committed to addressing \u201ctremendous trade imbalances\u201d with countries that have accumulated over the past few decades.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019re resetting tariff levels with virtually every country in the world,\u201d he told journalists, noting that such imbalances are \u201cunfair to America and American workers.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Last year, the US notched a $295 billion goods trade deficit with China, according to data<\/a> from the US Census Bureau.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think countries are going to trade with multiple countries. We don\u2019t view this as an opening for anyone. We don\u2019t view it that way. We view it as an opportunity to reset global trade in a way that\u2019s fair for Americans after two or three decades of unfairness,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in recent days said his country needs to wean itself off of dependence on the US – particularly citing security – as Tokyo faces the prospect of new tariffs. Rubio pointed to active US-Japan military exercises before making the case that such a move would be positive.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe idea that Japan\u2019s military would become more capable is not something we would be offended by; it\u2019s something we would actually be encouraged by,\u201d Rubio said.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN\u2019s Anna Cooban and Shawn Deng contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 There is a \u201chigh probability\u201d that US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-3516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}