Bessent Announces US-China Trade “Framework” Reached; Rare Earth Deal Deferred

President Trump kicked off his Asia tour by not only signing trade deals across Southeast Asia but also formalizing a ceasefire deal between Thailand and Cambodia. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with China’s top trade team on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur. Those trade talks produced what Bessent called a “successful framework” that would avert a planned 100% U.S. tariff on Chinese goods and set the stage for Trump’s meeting with President Xi Jinping next week, where a broader trade agreement may be finalized. Crypto markets welcomed the new developments. Bitcoin and Ethereum both moved sharply higher early Sunday.

🇺🇸🇲🇾 TRUMP POSES FOR PHOTOS – THEN DELIVERS TRADE, PEACE & A MINERAL POWER MOVE

He posed with ASEAN leaders in a classic geopolitical family photo fashion, but this time it wasn’t just about camera flashes and staged smiles.

Behind the scenes, Trump brokered a string of… https://t.co/oCzPcx6imm pic.twitter.com/poNUww1zam

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 26, 2025

ASEAN Summit Breakdown Day 1:

Trump oversaw the signing of a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia, advancing a ceasefire he helped broker. He also signed a flurry of deals with Southeast Asian leaders: trade agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia, a framework with Thailand, and critical mineral MOUs with Malaysia and Thailand. Details on those deals were not immediately clear.

President Donald Trump oversaw the formalization of an agreement between Thailand and Cambodia to manage their border dispute: https://t.co/9x4UBQqarH pic.twitter.com/N9moEnqK3D

— Bloomberg (@business) October 26, 2025

In addition to the Thailand and Cambodia deals, Trump announced pacts with host-nation Malaysia and Vietnam, one of America’s largest trading partners in the region, that offer preferential access for U.S. goods and agricultural exports. Like the other deals, the Trump administration has promised to identify exemptions from Trump’s 19% reciprocal tariffs on Malaysian goods and the 20% levy on Vietnamese products.
Trump also signed a critical minerals deal with Malaysia, which could be the most valuable one. Malaysia is seeking to expand its refining capacity of rare earths.
Trump met with Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, their first interaction since relations soured following Trump’s July announcement to impose punitive tariffs on Brazilian goods.
US-China trade talks yielded a framework ahead of Trump’s meeting with President Xi Jinping next Thursday. Beijing said the two sides had reached an initial consensus on issues including fentanyl and ship levies, while Bessent said China had agreed to make substantial soybean purchases.

Bessent told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker that China was ready to make a deal “after two days of negotiations.” He said a framework is ready for a meeting next week between Trump and Xi. “I’m also anticipating that we will get some kind of a deferral on the rare earth export controls that the Chinese had discussed,” he said, adding, “I think we are going to be able to discuss substantial soybean and [agriculture] purchases for our American farmers.”

.@SecScottBessent on talks with China: “I think we have addressed the farmers’ concerns — and I’m not going to get ahead of the President, but I believe when the announcement of the deal with China is made public, that our soybean farmers will feel very good.” pic.twitter.com/8n6Tj4U2qk

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 26, 2025

The critical focus from day one was that Bessent and Greer met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and top negotiator Li Chenggang on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit. Those discussions produced what China’s trade envoy Chenggang called a preliminary consensus on many pressing issues, including fentanyl cooperation, an extension of the current tariff truce, and the U.S. Section 301 ship levy.

Chenggang noted that discussions were “in-depth and candid,” and that both sides constructively explored solutions to de-escalate trade tensions and now move to internal review and approval. Both sides agreed to continue communication in the future, setting the stage for what appears to be a major cooling of trade tensions when Trump and Xi meet late next week.

“President Trump gave me a great deal of negotiating leverage with the threat of the 100% tariffs, and I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework that will avoid that and allow us to discuss many other things with the Chinese,” Bessent continued.

“I think we will be able to discuss them, helping us get this terrible fentanyl crisis under control,” he noted.

The move to escalate and then quickly de-escalate has been a deliberate negotiation tactic by both China and the U.S. in recent weeks, aimed at gaining leverage and forcing concessions. Now that both sides appear to have reached a “substantial framework” to de-escalate ahead of Trump-Xi talks next week, the market has wasted no time in pricing this in.

Bitcoin and Ethereum both erupted early Sunday after Bloomberg headlines hit around 0530 EST.

Get ready for U.S. equity futures on Sunday evening…

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