From Singapore to Brussels, world leaders eye Trump-Xi summit from afar

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump (L) and China's President Xi Jinping arrive for talks at the Gimhae Air Base, located next to the Gimhae International Airport in Busan on October 30, 2025. Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will seek a truce in their bruising trade war on October 30, with the US president predicting a "great meeting" but Beijing being more circumspect. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via ) Andrew Caballero-reynolds | Afp | SINGAPORE – When U.S. President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping meet in Beijing on Thursday, they and their teams will seal outcomes on potentially a huge range of issues. The agenda spans trade, technology, rare earth export controls, Taiwan, the Iran war, and artificial intelligence. China's decision to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets, and its ban on semiconductors from Nexperia China, upended supply chains central to global automakers , with political and economic consequences across Europe, Japan, and South Korea. "Virtually everyone has a stake in the outcome of this meeting," said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. That also means other world leaders and interested parties will likely be paying close attention — even if they won't be in the room when decisions are made that might have far-reaching consequences for them. …