• US president makes final stop on Asia trip.
• Meetings with China’s Xi, South Korea’s Lee expected.
• Trump expects to cut China tariff related to illicit fentanyl trade.

GYEONGJU: US President Donald Trump landed in South Korea on Wednesday for the final leg of his Asia trip, optimistic about striking a trade war truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping after summit talks with South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung.

Arriving from Tokyo hours after North Korea test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile, Trump is due to address a summit of CEOs and meet with Lee in Gyeongju, a sleepy South Korean town filled with historic tombs and palaces.

The main item on Wednesday’s agenda will be the unresolved trade agreement between the US and South Korea, before an expected meeting with Xi on Thursday, the prospect of which has already buoyed global markets.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Gyeongju, Trump dismissed the North Korea missile test and said he was squarely focused on his meeting with the leader of the world’s second-largest economy.

“The relationship with China is very good. So I think we’re going to have a very good outcome for our country and for the world, actually,” Trump said.

He expects to reduce US tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for Beijing’s commitment to curb exports of fentanyl precursor chemicals, he added. The US could halve the 20% levies on Chinese goods it currently charges in retaliation for the export of such chemicals, the Wall Street Journal reported.

After arriving in the southern city of Busan, Trump was greeted by officials and a cannon salute on the red carpet, before a band struck up a rendition of Village People’s YMCA, a favourite of the US president’s often played at his rallies. He was then whisked to Gyeongju in his helicopter.

South Korea trade talks struggle

Trump made no mention of trade talks with South Korea on Wednesday, with both sides playing down the prospect of a breakthrough in leader talks.

The two allies announced a deal in late July under which South Korea would avoid the worst of the tariffs by agreeing to pump $350 billion of new investments into the United States. But talks over the structure of those investments have been deadlocked.

Trump has also pressed allies like South Korea to pay more for defence, and South Korea has sought reforms to US immigration laws to allow for more workers to build factories after a raid on a Hyundai Motor 005380.KS battery plant in Georgia.

The leaders will discuss trade, investment and peace on the Korean peninsula at talks on Wednesday, Lee’s office said, a reference to engagement with North Korea.

Trump has made repeated calls for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, including during this trip, but there has been no public comment from Pyongyang. Kim has previously said he could be open to talking if Washington stops pressing him to give up nuclear weapons.

Adding to the golfing gifts he received from Japan’s leader in Tokyo on Tuesday, Lee will present Trump with a replica gold crown and award him with the “Grand Order of Mugunghwa”, the country’s highest decoration.

A “golden dessert” is on the menu for their working lunch, Lee’s office said.

Taiwan on the agenda?

Skipping the main APEC summit, Trump will address the APEC CEO summit, have dinner with Lee and hold bilateral meetings with several countries’ leaders, including China’s Xi, before departing on Thursday.

Negotiators from the world’s top two economies hashed out a framework on Sunday for a deal to pause steeper American tariffs and Chinese rare earths export controls, US officials said. The news sent stocks soaring to record peaks.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Tuesday he was not worried that Trump would “abandon” the island in his meeting this week with Xi.

Since taking office in January, Trump has vacillated on his position towards China-claimed Taiwan as he seeks to strike a trade deal with Beijing. Trump says Xi has told him he will not invade Taiwan while the Republican president is in office, but Trump has yet to approve any new US arms sales to Taipei.

China said on Wednesday it “absolutely will not” rule out using force over Taiwan.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he did not know whether he would even discuss Taiwan with Xi.

Two men who allegedly stole Dh195,000 from a woman after distracting her with a “faulty tyre” trick were arrested within three hours, police said on Tuesday.

The woman had withdrawn the cash from a bank in Fujairah, an emirate on the UAE’s eastern coast along the Gulf of Oman, and placed it inside her car.

The suspects followed her, and as she stopped, one man approached claiming that one of her tyres was damaged.

When she got out to check, the second suspect opened the car door, grabbed the cash, and both men fled. 

Police said the complaint was received at 10:50am, and after quick coordination with Sharjah Police, the suspects were traced and arrested in Sharjah, an emirate about 100 kilometres west of Fujairah.

Officials said the pair were also wanted for similar thefts in other emirates.

Authorities have urged residents to remain vigilant after withdrawing cash and to avoid engaging with strangers outside banks.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a category five hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory.

It was one of the most powerful hurricane landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin, the NHC added.

Jamaica’s ‘storm of the century’

Earlier, the US National Hurricane Center said that the Category 5 storm, the strongest possible on the Saffir-Simpson scale, was about 55 km (34 miles) southeast of the Jamaican resort town of Negril as of 1600 GMT and packing maximum sustained winds of 295 km per hour (183 miles per hour), with even higher gusts.

The Miami-based hurricane centre warned that “total structural failure” was likely in Melissa’s path.

“It’s a catastrophic situation,” the World Meteorological Organisation’s tropical cyclone specialist Anne-Claire Fontan told a press briefing. “For Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure.”

Storm surges of up to four meters were expected, she said, with rainfall set to exceed 70 cm (2.3 feet), causing “catastrophic flash flooding and landslides,” she said.

Nearby Haiti and the Dominican Republic have faced days of torrential downpours leading to at least four deaths, authorities said. At least three people died during storm preparations in Jamaica, local media reported.

The NHC expects the storm to hit Jamaica on Tuesday and remain as a strong hurricane when it crosses eastern Cuba to move over the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos by Wednesday.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis has ordered evacuations for people in southern and eastern parts of the archipelago.

In Cuba, authorities said they had evacuated upwards of 500,000 people from areas vulnerable to winds and flooding.

Storm intensified on approach

Melissa’s slow movement over unusually tepid Caribbean water had contributed to its ballooning size and strength, NHC forecasters said, threatening Jamaica with days of never-before-seen catastrophic winds and rain.

Melissa could bring up to 30 inches (762 mm) of rain to parts of Jamaica, and up to 12 inches to parts of the island of Hispaniola, the NHC said.

The International Federation of the Red Cross said up to 1.5 million people in Jamaica were expected to be directly affected by the storm.

“Today will be very difficult for tens of thousands, if not millions of people in Jamaica,” IFRC official Necephor Mghendi said via video link from Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.

“Roofs will be tested, flood waters will rise, isolation will become a harsh reality for many.”

To enable swift relief distribution, essential items — tarpaulins, hygiene kits, blankets, and safe drinking water — had been pre-positioned in Red Cross branches on the island, he said, with over 800 shelters set up for evacuees.

On Monday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness ordered mandatory evacuations for parts of southern Jamaica, including the historic town of Port Royal.

He warned of damage to farmlands, homes, and infrastructure on the island, which is roughly the size of Connecticut and whose main airports sit close to sea level.

“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” he said.

Holness said his government was as prepared as possible, with an emergency response budget of $33 million and insurance and credit provisions for damage a little larger than that sustained from Beryl.

Beryl was the earliest and fastest Atlantic hurricane on record to reach Category 5, but scientists warn that storms are becoming stronger and faster as a result of climate change warming ocean waters.

“Slow-moving major hurricanes often go down in history as some of the deadliest and most destructive storms on record,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter. “This is a dire situation unfolding in slow motion.”