Washington: Donald Trump has set off for a tour of Asia where he is expected to take part in high-stakes trade talks with China’s leader, Xi Jinping – telling reporters he was also open to a meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

Trump, who left Washington on Friday night, is set for a five-day trip to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, his first visit to the region since taking office in January. He is due to arrive in Malaysia on Sunday morning local time.

The US president is also expected to meet with Qatar’s emir during a refuelling stop on the way to Malaysia, a White House official said. Trump will be joined there by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and is expected to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza, which officials are hoping to move to a second, final phase in the coming weeks.

Trump is to meet Xi on the final day of his trip, hoping to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world’stwo biggest economies.

On Saturday, top economic officials from the US and China met in Kuala Lumpur to prepare for the meeting and to have preliminary talks on the key issues in the escalating tariff war.

A US treasury spokesperson described the meetings as “very constructive” and said they would resume the next morning.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he hoped for a “very good meeting” with Xi, adding that he expected China to make a deal to avoid 100% tariffs taking effect on 1 November. As he left Washington, Trump added fuel to the speculation that while on the Korean peninsula he could meet Kim for the first time since 2019. “I would. If you want to put out the word, I’m open to it,” Trump said aboard the presidential plane. “I had a great relationship with him.”

Regarding North Korea’s demand to be recognised as a nuclear state as a precondition for dialogue with Washington, Trump replied: “Well, I think they are sort of a nuclear power. When you say they have to be recognised as a nuclear power, well, they got a lot of nuclear weapons, I’ll say that.”