Trump joins Southeast Asian leaders in Kuala Lumpur for key ASEAN summit

Southeast Asian leaders and global partners, including U.S. President Donald Trump, will gather in Kuala Lumpur from 26 to 28 October to discuss trade, regional conflicts and global security, with East Timor set to join ASEAN as its 11th member.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold its annual summit in Malaysia from Sunday, drawing world leaders for talks expected to focus on U.S.–China trade tensions, regional security and economic cooperation.

President Trump is attending alongside top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Other leaders include China’s Premier Li Qiang, Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

U.S. and Chinese officials are expected to hold trade discussions in Malaysia ahead of Trump’s arrival, seeking to ease friction over Beijing’s rare earth export curbs. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will meet Bessent and Greer from 24 to 27 October in an effort to avert new U.S. trade measures before a possible Trump–Xi meeting in South Korea next week.

Regional tensions are also on the agenda. Thailand and Cambodia are due to sign a ceasefire to end their border conflict, which claimed several lives in July. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Trump helped broker the truce in July, with Cambodia later nominating the U.S. president for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malaysia will host a concurrent summit for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest trade bloc, covering about 30% of global GDP. Leaders will discuss expanding membership and boosting trade flows across Asia-Pacific economies, including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

ASEAN will also formally admit East Timor as its 11th member on 26 October, concluding a 14-year accession process. The country, Southeast Asia’s poorest with around 1.4 million people, first applied for membership in 2011 and gained observer status in 2022.

Trump’s presence — his first ASEAN summit since 2017 — underscores Washington’s bid to reinforce regional alliances amid growing competition with Beijing across Southeast Asia.

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