Trade War Talks: US, China Signal Progress In Malaysia; Crypto Traders Take Notice

The United States and China wrapped up talks in Kuala Lumpur that market players called a welcome step toward cooling trade war ￰0￱ to Reuters , senior negotiators met on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit as they try to head off a deeper fight over export controls and ￰1￱ War Talks Yield Preliminary Framework Based on reports, negotiators outlined a preliminary framework aimed at easing points of friction ahead of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi ￰2￱ Financial Times reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the understanding as a “very positive” framework covering export controls, shipping tariffs and agricultural trade.

BREAKING: US Treasury Secretary Bessent says China is “ready” to make a trade deal with the US after 2 days of ￰3￱ says the agreement will remove President Trump’s 100% tariff set to go live November 1st. — The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) October 26, 2025 A separate report said the discussions have tentatively removed the near-term threat of an all-out tariff move that had worried ￰4￱ reportedly reached agreements designed to avert the imposition of 100% tariffs that had been threatened, though final approvals still require domestic ￰5￱ from both countries met in Malaysia during the wider ASEAN meetings, giving negotiators a neutral venue and a built-in audience of regional ￰6￱ talks were scheduled to coincide with the ASEAN summit and stressed they were meant to preserve the momentum toward the leaders’ meeting next ￰7￱ Markets Respond Quickly Markets reacted within ￰8￱ on CoinDesk reporting, Bitcoin briefly rose above $113,000 as traders bought risk assets on the positive headlines, but volatility followed and large leveraged positions were cleared — over $657 million worth, split roughly evenly between long and short ￰9￱ It Matters For Risk Assets When geopolitical risk eases, some investors move back into stocks and ￰10￱ shift can increase demand and push prices up, at least for a ￰11￱ this is not a done ￰12￱ framework is an early ￰13￱ language must be turned into firm actions and then approved by leaders and ￰14￱ may cheer now, and then test the news again as details ￰15￱ And Remaining Questions Reports have disclosed several open points: exact terms on export controls, the timing of any tariff rollbacks, and what enforcement will look ￰16￱ with positive signals, macro drivers like interest rates and inflation will still shape whether crypto sees a lasting recovery or just a short-lived ￰17￱ image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView