President Trump is heading to Asia for his first trip to the region since taking office in January as the government shutdown persists with no end in sight.

Economic officials from both countries are working to ensure a meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping after the U.S. threatened new tariffs on Chinese goods in retaliation for China's expanded rare-earth export restrictions.

Tensions between the U.S. and China escalated in the weeks leading up to a possible meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping

Concern is increasing throughout Southeast Asia as U.S. officials, intent on slowing China, have yet to say how they will define the origin country of imports.

U.S. President Donald Trump will test his deal-making capabilities on a trip to Asia, a region battered by his hardball trade policies, while doubts hang over his highly anticipated meeting with China's Xi Jinping.

Leavitt said that on Monday morning local time, Trump will fly to Tokyo followed by a bilateral meeting with Sanae Takaichi, the new prime minister of Japan. Trump will then fly to Buscan, where he will participate in a bilateral meeting with Lee Jae Myung, the president of South Korea, Leavitt said.

The swing through Malaysia, Japan and South Korea is expected to test President Trump’s skills as a statesman and negotiator.

As German firms wrestle with new Chinese controls on rare earths, they are handing Beijing sensitive supply chain information it could potentially use to squeeze manufacturers or shut down production lines in Europe’s biggest economy.

D onald Trump has always talked tough about China. He returned to the White House in January gunning for a renewed trade war and demanding that Beijing suppress the illicit fentanyl trade, which kills tens of thousands of Americans each year. What he seems not to have planned for is the response: China is getting tough on Trump.

U.S. officials have launched an investigation into whether China fulfilled its commitments under a 2020 trade pact.

China's top leaders have pledged to boost the country's self-reliance in advanced technologies and spur stronger domestic demand over the next five years