US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Taiwan should not worry about upcoming US-China trade talks in Malaysia.
“I don’t think we’re going to see a trade deal where, if what people are worried about is that we get a trade deal or a favorable trade deal in exchange for withdrawing from Taiwan,” Rubio declared to journalists traveling on his plane between Israel and Qatar heading to Asia. “No one is looking at it.”
The top economic officials of the United States and China concluded their first day of talks in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, which a Treasury spokesman described as “very constructive.”.
The world’s two largest economies are seeking to avoid an escalation of their trade war and ensure that there is a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week.
The talks, during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, will chart a path forward after Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and other measures starting Nov. 1, in retaliation for Beijing’s export controls on magnets and rare earth minerals.
The recent moves, which also include expanding the US export blacklist to thousands of Chinese companies, have disrupted the delicate trade truce negotiated by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in four meetings since May.
