STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Trump is making the early stops of a tour in Asia.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
He went to Malaysia over the weekend. While there, he celebrated a peace deal between other nations that trade with the U.S. - Cambodia and Thailand.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: When we make deals, we see two countries that we do a lot of business with - we do a lot of business with both of them - we have to use that business to make sure they don't get into wars.
MARTIN: The two countries had traded fire over the summer, and the president took some credit for making sure they stopped. Trump is now in Tokyo, but the climax of this visit is a summit of Asian leaders in South Korea, where he expects to meet China's president.
INSKEEP: That's a head-spinning list of countries, but China is the big one because the two nations are trying to avoid a trade war. NPR's Mara Liasson is following this. Mara, good morning.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. and China had reached a framework for a trade deal with China. But, Mara, what does that mean?
LIASSON: Well, a framework is not a final deal. A framework is an agenda, and sometimes the final deals don't pan out either, as certainly, in his first term, Trump was disappointed that China didn't agree - didn't carry out the trade deal he made with them. But what Scott Bessent said yesterday on ABC is he expects the Chinese to delay for a year those export licensing restrictions on rare earth minerals. And in exchange, Donald Trump would not slap the 100% tariffs that he's threatened. But the Chinese readout of that meeting between U.S. and Chinese trade officials did not mention these terms, so we're going to have to wait to see what happens.
Now, on the plane to Asia, President Trump told reporters - he said, China will have to make concessions, and we will, too. So the big question is, which concessions will Trump make? Will he let China buy more advanced semiconductor chips? Some national security experts say that would be dangerous. Would he soften the U.S. stance towards Taiwan and say the U.S. opposes Taiwanese independence? That's something China would like. Yesterday, he was asked about that. He didn't want to discuss Taiwan. He has held up a $400 million arms package for Taiwan. And hawks in the Republican Party are worried that Trump is so eager for a big, splashy deal that he might compromise U.S. national security interests along the way.
INSKEEP: I'm interested in all the details you give me, Mara, especially about rare earths, saying that China would extend for a year this cutting off of - or rather delay for a year this...
LIASSON: Delay, yeah.
INSKEEP: ...Cutting off of rare Earth minerals, which means China would still have leverage as...
LIASSON: Yes.
INSKEEP: ...They continue further talks. How does this make things different than perhaps they've been in the past between the U.S. and China?
LIASSON: Well, China, as Trump might say, has a lot of cards, and they've been playing them. They haven't bought soybeans from U.S. farmers. As you said, they've held up these rare earth exports, and China is a big, powerful country. In many ways, it's as strong as the U.S. It's soon to be the biggest economy in the world. And this is a very different power dynamic. Trump can't just unilaterally lay down the terms of a trade deal, the way he has done with smaller, less powerful countries.
INSKEEP: This is very interesting because it brings to mind Trump's dance - if that's the right word - over time with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
LIASSON: That's true. In many ways, his talks with Xi have been similar to these on-again-off-again talks with Putin - lots of whiplash. He was going to meet with Putin. Now he's not. He threatened tariffs against China. Now he's not. He threatened to cancel this meeting with Xi, but he clearly backed off of that. So I think there are a lot of theatrics to this. I think the bottom line is that both of these leaders, the two most powerful people in the world, would, at the very least, like to come out of their meeting and be able to say that they have dialed down the tension, backed off from the trade war, at least for now.
INSKEEP: NPR's Mara Liasson. People will hear you've got a cold. Everybody loves you, so go get some tea. And thanks for your insights.
LIASSON: (Laughter) Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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