KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A trade deal between the United States and China is drawing closer, officials from the world’s two largest economies said Sunday as they reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting.

Any agreement would be a relief to international markets even if it does not address underlying issues involving manufacturing imbalances and access to state-of-the-art computer chips.

Beijing recently limited exports of rare earth elements that are needed for advanced technologies, and Trump responded by threatening additional tariffs on Chinese products. The prospect of a widening conflict risked weakening economic growth worldwide.

China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, told reporters the two sides had reached a “preliminary consensus,” while Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said there was “a very successful framework.”

Trump also expressed confidence that an agreement was at hand, saying the Chinese “want to make a deal and we want to make a deal.” The Republican president is set to meet with Xi on Thursday in South Korea, the final stop of his trip through Asia.

Bessent told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the threat of additional higher tariffs on China was “effectively off the table.” In interviews on several American news shows, he said discussions with China yielded initial agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the U.S., and that Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earths.

When asked how close a deal was, Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said on “Fox News Sunday” that “it’s really going to depend” on the two presidents.

Meanwhile, Trump reiterated that he plans to visit China in the future and suggested that Xi could come to Washington or Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida.

The progress toward a potential agreement came during the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in Kuala Lumpur, with Trump seeking to burnish his reputation as an international dealmaker.

Yet his way of pursuing deals has meant serious disruptions at home and abroad. His import taxes have scrambled relationships with trading partners while a U.S. government shutdown has him feuding with Democrats.

Trump attends ceasefire ceremony between Thailand and Cambodia

At the summit, Thailand and Cambodia signed an expanded ceasefire agreement during a ceremony attended by Trump. His threats of economic pressure prodded the two nations to halt skirmishes along their disputed border earlier this year.

Thailand will release Cambodian prisoners and Cambodia will begin withdrawing heavy artillery as part of the first phase of the deal. Regional observers will monitor the situation to ensure fighting doesn’t restart.

“We did something that a lot of people said couldn’t be done,” Trump said. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet called it a “historic day,” and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the agreement creates “the building blocks for a lasting peace.”

The president signed economic frameworks with Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, some of them aimed at increasing trade involving critical minerals. The United States wants to rely less on China, which has used limits on exports of key components in technology manufacturing as a bargaining chip in trade talks.

“It’s very important that we cooperate as willing partners with each other to ensure that we can have smooth supply chains, secure supply chains, for the quality of life, for our people and security,” Greer said.

Trump reengages with a key region of the world

Trump attended this summit only once during his first term, and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed unfamiliar with ASEAN during his confirmation hearing in January.

This year’s event was a chance for Trump to reengage with nations that have a combined $3.8 trillion economy and 680 million people.

“The United States is with you 100%, and we intend to be a strong partner and friend for many generations to come,” Trump said. He described his counterparts as “spectacular leaders” and said that “everything you touch turns to gold.”

Trump’s tariff threats were credited with helping spur negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia. Some of the worst modern fighting between the two countries took place over five days in July, killing dozens and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

The president threatened, at the time, to withhold trade agreements unless the fighting stopped. A shaky truce has persisted since then.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim praised the agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, saying at the summit that “it reminds us that reconciliation is not concession, but an act of courage.”

Tariffs are in focus on Trump’s trip

Trump in Kuala Lumpur met Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was also attending the summit. There has been friction between them over Brazil’s prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s former president and a close Trump ally. Bolsonaro was convicted last month of attempting to overturn election results in his country.

During their meeting, Trump said he could reduce tariffs on Brazil that he enacted in a push for leniency for Bolsonaro.

“I think we should be able to make some good deals for both countries,” he said.

While Trump was warming to Lula, he avoided Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The president is angry with Canada because of a television advertisement protesting his trade policies, and on his way to the summit announced on social media he would raise tariffs on Canada because of it.

One leader absent from the summit was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although he was close with Trump during Trump’s first term, the relationship has been more tense lately. Trump caused irritation by boasting that he settled a recent conflict between India and Pakistan, and he has increased tariffs on India for its purchase of Russian oil.

NEW YORK (AP) — The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday along with more than 30 other people in a takedown of two sprawling gambling operations that authorities said leaked inside information about NBA athletes and rigged poker games backed by Mafia families.

Portland coach Chauncey Billups was charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games tied to La Cosa Nostra organized crime families that cheated unsuspecting gamblers out of at least $7 million. Heat guard Terry Rozier was accused in a separate scheme of exploiting private information about players to win bets on NBA games.

The two indictments unsealed in New York create a massive cloud for the NBA — which opened its season this week — and show how certain types of wagers are vulnerable to massive fraud in the growing, multibillion-dollar legal sports-betting industry. Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, called it “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”

“My message to the defendants who’ve been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended,” Nocella said. “Your luck has run out.”

Both men face money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges. Also charged was former NBA assistant coach and player Damon Jones, who stands accused of participating in both schemes.

“The fraud is mind boggling,” FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters. “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multiyear investigation.”

The alleged fraud, however, paled in comparison to the riches the athletes earned on the court. Billups, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year, had about $106 million in earnings over his 17-year career. Rozier made about $160 million in his stops in Boston, Miami and Charlotte.

Billups and Rozier have been placed on leave from their teams, according to the NBA, which said it is cooperating with authorities.

“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the NBA said in a statement.

Hours after his arrest, Rozier appeared in a federal court in Orlando, Florida, wearing a Charlotte Hornets sweatshirt, handcuffs and shackles. Billups appeared before a judge in Portland, Oregon. Both men were ordered released from custody on certain conditions.

Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, issued a statement Thursday evening denying the allegations, calling his client a “man of integrity.” “To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall-of-Fame legacy, his reputation and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game,” Heywood said.

Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said in a statement that his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.” Trusty criticized authorities for not allowing his client to surrender on his own and accused officials of wanting “the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk.”

Messages were left Thursday at a phone number and email address listed in public records for Jones.

Roughly 20 other defendants appeared in federal court in Brooklyn, where most of them pleaded not guilty. Many of those charged with violent crimes or with lengthy criminal records and ties to organized crime were detained.

Mafia families profited off gambling scheme, officials say

The poker scheme lured unwitting players into rigged games with the chance to compete against former professional basketball players like Billups and Jones. The games were fixed using sophisticated cheating technology, such as altered card-shuffling machines, hidden cameras in poker chip trays, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table to read cards, authorities allege.

The scheme often made use of illegal poker games run by New York crime families that required them to share a portion of their proceeds with the Gambino, Genovese and Bonnano crime families, according to court papers. Members of those families, in turn, also helped commit violent acts, including assault, extortion and robbery, to ensure repayment of debts and the continued success of the operation, officials said in court documents.

Athletes accused of leaving games early

In the sports betting scheme, Rozier and other defendants are accused of accessing private information from NBA players or coaches that could affect a player’s performance and giving that information to others so they could place wagers. Players sometimes altered their performance or took themselves out of games early to rig prop bets — a type of wager that allows gamblers to bet on whether a player will exceed a certain statistic, such as a total number of points, rebounds or assists, according to the indictment.

In one instance, Rozier, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets in 2023, told people he was planning to leave the game early with a supposed injury, allowing gamblers to place wagers earning them tens of thousands of dollars, authorities said. That game against the New Orleans Pelicans raised eyebrows at the time. Rozier played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds of the game before leaving, citing a foot issue. He did not play again that season.

Posts still online from March 23, 2023, show that some bettors were furious with sportsbooks that evening when it became evident that Rozier was not going to return to the game after the first quarter, with many turning to social media to say that something “shady” had happened regarding the prop bets involving his stats for that night.

The indictments contain the descriptions of several unnamed NBA players whose injury status and availability for certain games were the source of betting activity. Those players are not accused of any wrongdoing, and there is no indication that they would have even known what was being said about their status for those games.

Those players include LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. Their identities are clear based on a review of corresponding injury reports surrounding games mentioned in the indictment. The indictments show that certain defendants shared information about the availability of those players in a game on March 24, 2023, involving the Portland Trail Blazers, and two games in 2023 and 2024 involving the Los Angeles Lakers.

The NBA had investigated Rozier previously. He was in uniform as the Heat played the Magic on Wednesday in Orlando, Florida, in the season opener for both teams, though he did not play in the game.