Sabra Lane: US President Donald Trump's praised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a dinner in South Korea with other world leaders ahead of another summit, saying he's done a fantastic job on the $13 billion critical minerals deal they struck last week. Korea is holding this year's APEC meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders, but it's also hosting one of the most anticipated meetings this year between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The US President's flagging the two could make a good deal. North Asia correspondent James Oaten reports from the South Korean city of Gwangju.
James Oaten : The US President Donald Trump received another red carpet welcome as his tour of Asia draws to a close. While meetings with the South Korean President and a dinner in his honour were the first order of business, Donald Trump's upcoming one-on-one with China's President Xi Jinping is stealing all the attention.
Donald Trump: I think we're going to have a great meeting with President Xi of China and a lot of problems are going to be solved. Are you optimistic? Yeah, I'm very optimistic. I am.
James Oaten : Donald Trump has relished in new trade deals after announcing sweeping tariffs earlier this year. But China has proven to be a formidable foe, retaliating with its own tariffs. It stopped buying soybeans from the US and then announced restrictions on rare earths. China's the dominant player in that space, controlling around 90% of production. Professor Wu Xinbo is from the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
Wu Xinbo: It's not just a tactical bargaining chip. I think for China it's a national security issue and it's a strategic leverage in dealing with the US.
James Oaten : He says China has taken this step partially in response to the restrictions the US imposed on advanced microchips.
Wu Xinbo: This kind of securitisation of resources or market or technology is something we learned from the US since the first Trump administration. You know, in the past, this has never been a problem. But now we gradually realise that maybe this is a necessary leverage we should play vis-a-vis the US.
James Oaten : The US president is renowned for his transactional approach to international diplomacy, seeking to strike deals while being less concerned about the broader geopolitical play. He's already flagged granting China access to advanced Nvidia microchips.
Jared Mondschein: I don't think that Donald Trump himself is all that really focused on strategic competition with China, but I think the rest of the US government and the US system is sort of locked into strategic competition.
James Oaten : That's Jared Mondshein. He's the director of research at the United States Study Centre at the University of Sydney.
Donald Trump: There is concern that Donald Trump perhaps may deliver more to China than what many in the US strategic community would want him to offer. But it's hard to imagine the US going back to US-China relations in the 2010 era and before. Can't see any sort of agreement with China lasting very long because all recent agreements have not lasted very long with China.
James Oaten : This is James Oaten in Guangzhou reporting for AM.