At their first face-to-face meeting in six years, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached new agreements on tariffs, soybeans and rare earth minerals, while avoiding any mention of Taiwan. Their talks in Busan on the sidelines of the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit followed a similarly productive meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, as well as an amicable first encounter with Takaichi Sanae, Japan’s new conservative prime minister. Did Trump or Xi achieve more in South Korea? And what could the blossoming Trump-Takaichi friendship mean for Taiwan? In this episode, we analyze the new Trump-Xi trade deal, the state of US-Japan and US-China relations, and other recent geopolitical developments in the Indo-Pacific region.
