Topping the agenda at every stop is trade, with negotiators still ironing out the details of pacts expected to be signed during Trump’s three-country Asia tour.

President Donald Trump faces one of the toughest challenges of his second term when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, where the world's two largest economies will seek to avert an escalation of their trade war.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping delivered a speech Monday on the opening day of a major meeting of the ruling Communist Party to approve a draft plan laying out its goals for the country over the next five years.

Trump visited Beijing as U.S. president in November 2017. Xi had visited the U.S. in April of that same year, when the two leaders met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. At the time, a White House spokesperson said the Chinese delegation had requested Mar-a-Lago as the venue for the meeting.

President Trump's closely-watched summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping is set for this Thursday in South Korea with increasing expectations after the weekend of advance talks have resulted in an environment that both sides say could be conducive to compromise.

The talks, if successful, could mark a significant easing of trade tensions that have unsettled markets and clouded diplomatic ties

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear how excited his boss is about saving TikTok. During an interview on CBS’ Face the Nation, Bessent, 63, told Margaret Brennan that Donald Trump is finalizing a deal with President Xi Jinping to keep the Chinese-owned social media platform operating in the United States.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will appeal for free trade and regional cooperation at the ASEAN summit on Monday ahead of President Donald Trump’s face-off with China’s Xi Jinping.