Talks with Chinese FM 'positive': Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday he had "positive and constructive" talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as the two major powers vied to push their agendas in Asia at a time of tension over Washington's tariff offensive.

The top US diplomat was in Malaysia on his first Asia trip since taking office, seeking to stress the US commitment to the region at the East Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum, where many countries were reeling from a raft of steep US tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump this week.

Rubio had his first in-person talks with China's foreign minister, which came after Beijing warned Washington against reinstating hefty levies on its goods next month and threatened retaliation against nations that strike deals with the US to cut China out of supply chains.

Wang sharply criticised Washington during talks with Asian counterparts in Malaysia, calling the US tariffs "typical unilateral bullying behavior".

But both sides described their bilateral meeting as positive and constructive on Friday.

Rubio said the odds of Trump meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping were high. "We're two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on. I think there's some areas of potential cooperation and I thought it was a very constructive, positive meeting, and a lot of work to do," he told reporters.

Rubio emphasised that his sit-down with Wang was not a negotiation, but rather about establishing a constructive baseline to continue talks.

Rubio noted Trump had been invited to visit China, and added: "It's a visit he wants to undertake, and so we'll work on finding the right date for that, but I'm sure it'll happen because the president — both presidents — want it to happen." "We have to build the right atmosphere and build ... deliverables, so that a visit isn't just a visit, but it actually has some takeaways from it that are concrete," he said.

China's Foreign Ministry said Wang had emphasised that both countries should translate consensus reached by their leaders into policies and actions. "Both sides agreed that the meeting was positive, pragmatic and constructive," it said.

Rubio's visit was part of an effort to renew US focus on the Indo-Pacific region and look beyond conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the administration's attention since Trump's return to office in January.

But this was overshadowed by this week's announcement of steep US tariffs on imports from many Asian countries and US allies, including 25% targeting Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, 32% for Indonesia, 36% for Thailand and Cambodia and 40% on goods from Myanmar and Laos.