Beijing and Washington “can totally find ways to resolve each other’s concerns”, China’s commerce minister said Friday, as officials from both sides were set to meet in Malaysia for trade talks.The world’s two biggest economies have spent a large part of this year locked in a tit-for-tat trade row, though they appear to be seeking to avoid further escalation.Chinese vice premier He Lifeng is leading a delegation to meet US counterparts in Malaysia from October 24 to 27, Beijing said Thursday, the latest of several such rounds of negotiations.Commerce minister Wang Wentao said Friday that the previous meetings had shown “China and the United States can totally find ways to resolve each other’s concerns”. The two can “find correct ways to coexist, and promote the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-US economic ties through mutual respect and equal consultation”, he told a news conference marking the end of a key political meeting in Beijing.The Malaysia talks come after a “candid, in-depth and constructive” weekend call between He and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will attend the meeting. Hopes that ties might stabilise were given a further boost when the White House announced US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea next Thursday, having previously threatened to cancel. The preceding talks in Malaysia will cover “important issues in the economic and trade relationship between China and the United States”, Beijing said Thursday. Trade tensions between the two have been on a rollercoaster ride since Trump’s return to the White House, with both sides slapping escalating tariffs on each other.Tit-for-tat duties reached triple digits on both sides at one point this year, snarling supply chains. A key meeting in May between their negotiators in Geneva resulted in a 90-day suspension of the highest tariffs. Subsequent talks in London, Stockholm and Madrid worked towards establishing a more permanent deal, among other agreements, but the truce remains shaky. The pause on steeper duties is in place until November 10 after being extended again in August. However, disagreements have flared again, with Beijing this month announcing sweeping controls on the critical rare earths industry — prompting Trump to threaten 100 percent tariffs on imports from China in retaliation.The countries also began applying arrival fees against each other’s ships, sparked by a US “Section 301” investigation that found China’s dominance in the maritime sector was unreasonable.But Trump said on Wednesday he hopes to reach a “deal on everything” with Xi. 

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he was ending trade talks with Canada over an anti-tariff advertising campaign, a sudden about-face soon after a cordial White House meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney.On his Truth Social network, Trump vented fury at what he called a “fake” ad that he said misquoted former president Ronald Reagan discussing tariff policy.Trump said the campaign — produced by the Canadian province of Ontario to be aired on US television channels — was designed to “interfere with the decision of the US Supreme Court,” which is due to rule on his sweeping global tariffs.”Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump posted.There was no immediate comment from officials in Canada, where Carney said in a budget speech on Wednesday that Washington’s “fundamentally changed” trade policy required a revamp of Ottawa’s economic strategy.Trump said “the Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs.”The foundation wrote on X that the Ontario government had used “selective audio and video” from a radio address on trade that Reagan had delivered in 1987.It said the ad “misrepresents” what the former Republican president said, adding that it was “reviewing its legal options.”The ad used quotes from Reagan’s speech, in which he warned against some of the ramifications that high tariffs on foreign imports could have on the US economy.It cited Reagan as saying that “high tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,” a quote that matches a transcript of his speech on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library’s website.- ‘Rupture’ -The latest twist in relations between the United States and Canada came just over two weeks after Carney visited Trump at the White House to seek a relaxation of stiff US tariffs.At that meeting, Trump described Carney as a “world-class leader” and said the Canadian would “walk away very happy” from their discussion.Trump’s global sectoral tariffs — particularly on steel, aluminum, and autos — have hit Canada hard, forcing job losses and squeezing businesses.For now, the United States and Canada continue to adhere to an existing North American trade deal called the USMCA, which ensures that roughly 85 percent of cross-border trade in both directions remains tariff-free.In his speech on Wednesday, ahead of the unveiling of the 2025 federal budget next month, Carney said that the United States has raised “its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.””The scale and speed of these developments are not a smooth transition, they’re a rupture. They mean our economic strategy needs to change dramatically,” Carney added, saying the process “will take some sacrifices and some time.”Both Trump and the Canadian prime minister are due to attend gatherings in the coming days — the regional summit of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) in Malaysia and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in South Korea.Earlier this week, Carney had said Ottawa was in “intensive negotiations” with Washington for a trade deal.Canada is a major supplier of steel and aluminum for US businesses, and Carney had expressed optimism about the prospects of a breakthrough in those sectors.Carney has also said his government is focused on preserving the USMCA, which was signed during Trump’s first term and is scheduled for review in 2026.While most cross-border food trade has remained tariff-free, some US tariffs and Canadian countermeasures have forced some suppliers to raise prices.Data released Tuesday showed Canada’s annual inflation rate rising to 2.4 percent in September — slightly above analyst expectations, with rising grocery prices partly driving the inflation bump.Canadian grocery stores have historically relied heavily on US imports.

South Korea’s unification minister said Friday he believed there was a “considerable” chance that US President Donald Trump will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to the peninsula next week.Trump is expected in South Korea on Wednesday for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.US media have reported officials from his administration have privately discussed setting up a meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim, who he last held talks with in 2019.North Korea appears “to be paying attention to the United States and various signs… suggest a considerable possibility of a meeting,” unification minister Chung Dong-young told reporters.Trump has said he hopes to meet Kim again — possibly this year.Kim said last month he had “fond memories” of Trump and was open to talks if the United States dropped its “delusional” demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons.Seoul on Friday urged the two leaders not to let the chance “slip away”.”I don’t want to miss even a one percent chance,” the unification minister said.”They need to make a decision,” Chung, whose ministry handles fraught relations with the North, added.While no official announcements of the duo’s meeting have been made, South Korea and the United Nations Command halted tours of the Joint Security Area (JSA) from late October to early November.Kim and Trump last met in 2019 at Panmunjom in the JSA in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas — the only place where soldiers from both sides face each other on a regular basis.Chung said North Koreans have been spotted “sprucing up” areas near the JSA for the first time this year — cleaning, pulling weeds, tidying flower beds and taking photos.Kim met Trump three times for high-profile summits during the US leader’s first term.The duo’s last and impromptu meeting at Panmunjom was hastily arranged after Trump extended an invitation to Kim on Twitter a day prior.That event saw the two leaders shake hands over the concrete slabs dividing North and South before Trump walked a few paces into Pyongyang’s territory — becoming the first US president ever to set foot on North Korean soil.But talks eventually collapsed over just how much of its nuclear arsenal the North was willing to give up and what Pyongyang would get in return.In August, Trump hailed his relationship with Kim and said he knew him “better than anybody, almost, other than his sister.”Trump’s trip to South Korea is also expected to see him meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping.