Trump tears down East Wing for $300M ballroom ahead of high-stakes China meeting

October 25, 2025 by updatesite

Meanwhile, Trump departed for Asia Friday, as he is slated to meet with Xi during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

The meeting comes amid ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries, which escalated when Beijing announced Oct. 9 it would impose export controls on rare-earth magnets. Rare earth magnets are used in products ranging from electric cars to F-35 fighter jets. 

As a result, Trump said the U.S. would impose a new 100% tariff on all Chinese goods, which is slated to take effect Nov. 1.

However, Trump has sought to neutralize tension, and has regularly spoken highly of his relationship with Xi in recent weeks. Additionally, he has said he believes a deal will be reached between the two countries.

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“I think we are going to come out very well and everyone’s going to be very happy,” Trump said Thursday.

Trump and Xi have not met in person since Trump took office in January. Their last meeting took place in June 2019 in Japan.

Trump will also visit Malaysia, Japan and South Korea as part of the trip.

Trump also met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte Wednesday, just after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and after calling off a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Trump said that he didn’t want a “wasted meeting” with Putin in Hungary, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump didn’t see enough progress toward peace from Russia.

“We canceled the meeting with President Putin,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office with Rutte Wednesday. “It just it didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I canceled it. But we’ll do it in the future.”