AIR FORCE ONE: US President Donald Trump met on Saturday (Oct 25) with the emir and prime minister of Qatar, a key ally in maintaining the fragile Gaza peace deal, before heading to Asia for a high-stakes trip that includes summits and talks with China’s Xi Jinping.

The stopover at Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the US military’s regional headquarters, came as Israel launched an air strike targeting an alleged Islamic Jihad militant in Gaza, despite the US-brokered ceasefire.

“What we’ve done is incredible peace to the Middle East, and they were a very big factor in it,” Trump said, referring to Qatar’s role in the truce.

TRADE AND SECURITY AGENDA

Trump will visit Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea on his first Asia tour since returning to office in January, with an ambitious agenda focused on trade, diplomacy, and security. He said he hopes for a “very good meeting” with Xi, signalling optimism about ending the US-China trade war before new tariffs take effect on Nov 1.

The US president also said he is “open” to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the trip, their first encounter since 2019, and acknowledged that Pyongyang “has a lot of nuclear weapons.”

Trump’s first stop is Malaysia, where he will attend the ASEAN summit, sign a trade pact, and witness a peace accord between Thailand and Cambodia. He will then meet Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo before travelling to Busan, South Korea, for the APEC summit and a long-awaited meeting with Xi.

US and Chinese negotiators held “very constructive” preliminary trade talks in Malaysia, according to a US Treasury spokesperson. Trump said he will also raise fentanyl trafficking with Xi as part of his broader anti-drug push.