Rubio Meets Wang in KL, Says Good Chance of Trump-Xi Talks

America’s top diplomat Marco Rubio said on Friday his talks with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi were “positive and constructive,” despite bilateral tension over the Trump Administration’s tariff onslaught.

The US Secretary of State was in Malaysia on his first Asia trip since taking office, seeking to stress the United States’ commitment to the region at the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum, where many countries are reeling from a raft of steep tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump.

Rubio had his first in-person talks with Wang, following Beijing’s warning that the US must not reinstate hefty levies on its goods next month and a threat that China would hit back at countries that strike deals with the US to cut China out of supply chains.

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Wang has sharply criticised Washington during talks with Asian counterparts in Malaysia, calling the US tariffs “typical unilateral bullying behaviour”.

But both sides described the bilateral meeting as positive and constructive on Friday. And Rubio said the odds of Trump meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping were high.

“We’re two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on. I think there’s some areas of potential cooperation and I thought it was a very constructive, positive meeting, and a lot of work to do,” he told reporters.

Rubio emphasised that his session with Wang was not a negotiation, but rather about establishing a constructive baseline to continue talks.

Asked about a possible Trump-Xi meeting, Rubio said both sides wanted to see it happen.

Focus on ‘right atmosphere and deliverables’

“We have to build the right atmosphere and build … deliverables, so that a visit isn’t just a visit, but it actually has some takeaways from it that are concrete. But there’s a strong desire on both sides to do it.”

China’s foreign ministry said Wang had emphasised that both countries should translate consensus reached by their leaders into policies and actions,

“Both sides agreed that the meeting was positive, pragmatic and constructive,” it said.

Rubio’s visit is part of an effort to renew US focus on the Indo-Pacific region and look beyond conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the administration’s attention since Trump’s return to office in January.

But that has been overshadowed by this week’s announcement of steep US tariffs on imports from many Asian countries and US allies, including 25% targeting Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, 32% for Indonesia, 36% for Thailand and Cambodia and 40% on goods from Myanmar and Laos.

China, initially singled out with levies exceeding 100%, has until August 12 to reach a deal with Washington to avoid Trump’s reinstating additional import curbs imposed during tit-for-tat tariff exchanges in April and May.

ASEAN: Tariffs counter-productive

Analysts said Rubio would use the trip to press the case that the United States remains a better partner than China, Washington’s main strategic rival. Rubio met his counterparts from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia on Friday.

Wang has rebuked the United States in Kuala Lumpur, saying no country should support or agree with its tariffs, according to remarks released by Beijing on Friday.

He told Thailand’s foreign minister the tariffs had been abused and “undermined the free trade system, and interfered with the stability of the global production and supply chain”.

During a meeting with his Cambodian counterpart, Wang said the US levies were an attempt to deprive Southeast Asian countries of their legitimate right to development.

“We believe that Southeast Asian countries have the ability to cope with complex situations, adhere to principled positions, and safeguard their own interests,” he said.

In a joint communique on Friday, ASEAN foreign ministers expressed concern over rising global trade tensions and the need to diversify trade, calling for a transparent and fair multilateral trading system.

Without mentioning the United States, they said unilateral tariffs were “counterproductive and risk exacerbating global economic fragmentation”.

Also met Russia’s Lavrov

Rubio also met Russia’s Sergei Lavrov on Thursday and said he and Lavrov had shared some ideas on a new or different Russian approach on Ukraine.

“I don’t want to oversell it, okay, but it was constructive,” he said on Friday. “We’ll find out, but there are some things that we will potentially explore, and I relayed that to the president and our team last night.”

Rubio also met Japan’s foreign minister and South Korea’s first vice foreign minister in Malaysia on Friday to discuss regional security and a strengthening of their “indispensable trilateral partnership”, a US State Department said in a statement.

Asked about Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s remarks on Thursday that Tokyo needs to wean itself off its dependence on Washington, Rubio said it was not a comment to be viewed negatively.

“We obviously have very strong commitments and an alliance with Japan. We continue to cooperate very closely with them,” he said.

‘US wants help with shipbuilding’

The US. wants South Korea to join efforts to counter China’s growth in shipbuilding via potential cooperation in the sector, a senior official from Seoul’s trade ministry said earlier on Friday.

“The United States feels a sense of crisis that China’s market share in the shipbuilding sector is growing and is tapping Korea as a strategic partner,” trade policy director Chang Sung-gil said at a forum hosted by a lawmaker.

The US is asking Seoul to join measures to curb China in “other areas” as the “precondition” for bilateral cooperation in shipbuilding, he said, without elaborating.

He later clarified that he was referring to the shipbuilding sector as the potential area where the United States wants Seoul to join hands in terms of taking on China.

The US had also expressed reservations when it comes to cutting or eliminating industry-specific tariffs, such as those on automobiles and steel, Chang said.