WH Briefing Room: Trump’s Asia Mission: Trade Talks, Shutdown Fallout, and Fed Rate Cuts Ahead

In this Briefing, Jon Decker breaks down President Trump’s ongoing trip to Asia and his efforts to secure new trade and peace agreements with Cambodia and Thailand. Decker also examines the impact of the federal government shutdown on military pay and food assistance, plus the Federal Reserve’s expected move to cut interest rates amid mounting economic pressures.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Monday, October
twenty seventh. I'm John Decker. President Trump continues his week
long trip to Asia and houts the peace agreement that
he helped broker between Cambodia and Thailand.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Today's signing represents just one of eight conflicts that we've
ended in eight months of the Trump President Sam Maury
honor to have done it. We saved millions of lives.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
The President says he's committed to strengthening economic ties in
the Indo Pacific.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hey, the United States is for you. He's committed to
a free and open and thriving Indo Pacific. My message
to the nations of Southeast Asias that the United States
is with you one hundred percent and we intend to
be a strong partner and friend for many generations to come.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
It's day twenty seven of the federal government's shutdown, and
service members could still be missing their next payday and
the federal reserve set to law or interest rates once
again later this week, but we begin with the President's
trip to Asia. President Trump embarked on his week long
trip to Asia last Friday night, and upon arriving in Malaysia,

(01:14):
the President touted the Cambodia Thailand peace agreement that he
helped negotiate.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Countries are agreeing to cease all hostilities and work to
build good neighborly relationships, which have already started.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
The prime purpose of the President's trip to Asia, besides
that upcoming meeting that I'll have later this week with
Chinese President Jijingping, is trade trade deals that the President
hopes to reach with many countries that are longtime trading
partners of the United States. The President touted those trade
deals with several countries during that peace deal signing.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Today. Alongside this peace treaty, we also are signing a
major trade deal with Cambodia and a very important critical
minerals agreement with Thailand. The United States will have a
robust commerce and cooperation transactions, lots of them, with both
nations as long as they live in peace.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
The Trump administration said it reached trade agreements with Malaysia
and Cambodia frameworks for deals with Thailand and Vietnam during
the president's initial stops in Malaysia, and those announcements, while
not legally binding, represents significant progress in the president's quest
to lower trade barriers for US goods abroad. The US

(02:33):
entered into trade agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia that will
see the Southeast Asian nations lower tariffs and regulations on
US goods such as vehicles and farm products, and the
Administration said the two nations would buy more US goods
in exchange for certain exemptions from the president so called

(02:53):
reciprocal tariffs, which will otherwise remain at nineteen percent. The
US won't charge care of so many agriculture products and
other goods not produced in the US, and many of
those goods are laid out in an annex to the
President's Executive Order on Reciprocal Trade that the Administration had
recently offered as carveouts for nations that sign trade deals

(03:18):
with the US. Those two countries, Malaysia and Cambodia, will
purchase new Boeing aircraft, and Malaysia, according to this trade deal,
will invest seventy billion dollars in the US over the
next ten years. While the President was in Malaysia, he
spoke at the Asion Summit. Let's listen to the President

(03:39):
right here.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Today, the Prime Minister and I signed a major trade
deal between the United States and Malaysia, and together we
took part of the signing of a historic peace agreement
ending the hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand. We're calling it
the Kuala Lampour.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Piece of Courts. The Assion Summit took place over the weekend.
President explained his goal for that summit.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Nearly is a true pleasure to be back with all
of you in Southeast Asia. Almost some of America's most
important allies and countries and partners in the entire world.
They look up to you. I'm here in a mission
of friendship and goodwill and to deepen our ties of commerce,
to strengthen our common security, and to really promote strongly stability, prosperity,

(04:28):
and peace for all of the countries in this room
and long beyond this rule.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
The President also said during his stop in Malaysia that
the US has signed framework agreements with Thailand and Vietnam
that could provide the foundation for fuller trade deals later on.
Both nations agreed to cut tariffs on nearly all US goods,
reduced regulations on American firms, and also accept many US

(04:55):
regulations on vehicles and other goods. They too, also agreed
to purchase both going aircraft and US agriculture goods, and
the Thai government signed a separate agreement to commit to
facilitate the development of critical mineral exports to the US.
Over the weekend, top US and Chinese negotiators meanwhile sounded

(05:16):
a positive note on their talks. They hailed what they
called constructive discussions ahead of a meeting that the President
will have with Chinese President Jijingping on Thursday. According to
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, the talks covered a range of issues,
including export controls, extensions to the suspension of reciprocal tariffs,

(05:38):
and cooperation to tackle the illicit trade infentanyl. They also
discussed purchases of agricultural products, including soybeans, access to rare
earth minerals, and in addition to that, TikTok and the
overall US China relationship. Those trade talks, which took place
over the weekend in Malaysia, were aimed to ratchet tensions

(06:01):
between the US and China and to lay the groundwork
for further discussions at the Trump she summit, which will
be the first in person meeting of the two leaders
since the president began his second term. And when asked
whether the US and China would extend a trade truce,
which is set to expire on November the tenth. Treasury

(06:24):
Secretary Scott Besson said, coming out of this meeting, I
would say yes, but at the end of the day
that decision is up to President Trump. President Trump says
he will likely visit with President she in China in
early twenty twenty six, and She, for his part, will
visit the US later next year, either in Washington, d c.

(06:45):
Or at mar A Lago. It's day twenty seven of
the federal government shut down, and there are important deadlines
to keep in mind. As far as this week is concerned.
Time is running out to find the next solution to
get service members paid during this government shutdown. The eight
billion dollars that the Trump administration found to cover the

(07:06):
paychecks for troops in the first paycheck in mid October
is due to run out at the end of this month,
the end of this week. That's after a Senate Democrats
on Thursday of last week SANKA vote on Wisconsin Senator
Ron Johnson's bill to pay active duty military personnel and
federal employees required to work during the shutdown. Now, the

(07:30):
shutdown is entering into its fourth week no end in sight,
and the administration does need to figure out where to
pull additional funds if it once forces to be paid
at this next pay period. That upcoming deadline appears to
have lawmakers on both sides of the Isle warry. That's
after Senators voted fifty four to forty five against advancing

(07:52):
legislation from Senator Johnson that would have guaranteed pay for
essential federal workers, including members of the military. Looking ahead,
Republicans this week could try to force a vote on
pay for military members and air traffic controllers and TSA employees,
as well as funding for key nutrition benefits such as

(08:15):
those under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program also known as STAP,
before they're cut off on November the first. In fact,
more than forty million low income food stamp beneficiaries are
expected to receive less help with grocery bills or no
help at all in the coming days. The Department of

(08:35):
Agriculture is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in snap
contingency funding, which Congress has already allocated for emergency scenarios
if the government shutdown stretches into November. The USDA released
guidance on Friday, saying it will not use funds to

(08:55):
cover SNAP benefits if the government shutdown extends be on
October the thirty first. Now, that's a move that it
pears designed to maximize the pressure on Senate Democrats to
support this Republican funding bill to reopen the federal government. Now,
Trump officials have located stopgap funding to fill other shortfalls

(09:18):
amid this budget impasse, including money to prop up another
nutrition program benefiting women and children, known as WICK, but
they've declined to do the same with SNAP. Now. To
keep those WICK benefits whole through October, the president's budget
team had tapped three hundred million dollars from the president's
tariffs revenues, but that money is soon to expire, and

(09:42):
there's no indication that the administration is preparing a similar
transfer for November. Finally, it's a very important week for
the US Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to cut
interest rates by another twenty five basis points a quarter
of a point, even as the government shutdown continues. The
Federal Reserve announces their rate decision this coming Wednesday. It's

(10:06):
widely expected to cut interest rates by a quarter of
a point, and that's particularly after recent weaker than expected
inflation data. Now, the government shutdown is now entering its
fourth week, and there are estimates that that has likely
already reduced fourth quarter annualized GDP growth by almost a

(10:26):
half a percentage point, and that will mean official data
will continue to be delayed and investors, as a result,
will focus on the Conference Board's consumer confidence data for
October on Tuesday. Now, clearly the President will like the
news on Wednesday when the Federal Reserve announces their rate decision,

(10:46):
but markets have fully priced in a FED rate cut already.
That's amid recent signs of weakness in the US labor market,
as well as the fact that tariffs are slowly in
increasing pressure on inflation. As for Monday, the President continues
his week long trip in Asia. He's already left Kuala

(11:08):
Lumpur now en route to Tokyo, Japan, and upon arriving
in Japan, the President will participate in a courtesy call
and visit with the Emperor of Japan. That's the White
House briefing room for Monday, October twenty seven. I'm John Decker.
Have a good one