ASEAN Summit: Li Warns as US-China De‑Escalate

At the East Asia/ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, Chinese Premier Li Qiang warned against rising “unilateralism” and a return to the “law of the jungle,” urging renewed support for economic globalization ahead of a high‑stakes Trump–Xi meeting. His remarks were widely seen as a rebuke of U.S. tariff policies as Washington and Beijing worked to de‑escalate a tariff standoff that had threatened a 100% tariff increase. Two days of talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng produced reported progress and a “preliminary consensus” on issues including rare‑earth exports and U.S. soybean purchases, and Bessent said the 100% tariff threat had been withdrawn. Leaders at the summit pushed to make the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) more effective as a regional counterweight to protectionism. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said U.S. President Donald Trump told him semiconductor tariff issues with Malaysia would be handled “at the appropriate time” and were “not an issue” for now.