TOKYO —  US President Donald Trump heads Wednesday for South Korea, where a key meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping could produce a truce in the blistering trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Trump’s two-day visit to key US ally South Korea is the third leg of a trip to Asia that has seen him lauded at a regional summit in Malaysia and flattered as a “peacemaker” by Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

But the eyes of the world will be on a meeting set for Thursday — the first time in six years Trump sits down with Xi.

It could determine whether the United States and China can halt a trade war that has roiled global markets and sent international supply chains into panic.

Negotiators from Beijing and Washington have both confirmed a “framework” has been agreed.

It is now down to Trump and Xi, who will meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in the city of Gyeongju, to sign off on it.

“There seems to be a mismatch in terms of where both countries are, heading into the Trump-Xi summit,” said William Yang, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

The United States “is eager to reach any trade deal that Trump could declare as a victory”, while China is focused on “building more mutual trust, managing longstanding differences, and steadying the bilateral trade relationship”, he added.