The separate conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe preceded Mr Trump's expected meetings with the leaders of Asia's two biggest economies at the Group of 20 nations summit in Germany this week.
They came against the backdrop of a freshly strident tone from the Trump administration about China's need to rein in Pyongyang, and on Japan and South Korea over trade imbalances with America, reported Bloomberg.
"The recent actions show Trump is not happy with China and other Asian countries," international relations professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, Song Guoyou, was quoted as saying. "The businessman wants better deals. Now everyone just has to return to the negotiating table."
In his call with President Xi, Mr Trump also repeated his desire for more balanced ties with America's trading partners, according to a White House statement.
After Mr Trump enlisted the Chinese President's help in April to press Mr Kim to curtail his nuclear weapons and missile programmes, the US president dialled back his public criticisms of China. That tone has changed in recent weeks.
Mr Trump now says China isn't doing enough to help on North Korea and the US slapped sanctions on Chinese companies for doing business with the isolated regime. The US administration also announced a US$1.3 billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Mr Trump has also adopted a more strident tone on trade. In his first meeting with new South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week, he demanded a "fair shake" for US automakers in the country and called for a halt to exports of "dumped steel."
Meanwhile, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer stressed concern in a meeting with Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko over a decades-old trade deficit with Japan.
President of the Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu, Ralph Cossa, said there was some fear before the South Korean President's meeting with Mr Trump that the US President would threaten to walk away from the US-South Korea free-trade agreement.
"Instead, all they talked about was correcting a few 'unfair' practices at the margins," Mr Cossa said. "I did not hear any reference to 'renegotiate' or 'scrap' the agreement, but only to small potential side deals that would allow Trump to declare a 'win' without undoing an important agreement that has benefited both sides."
So far, the attacks on South Korea over trade have been harsher than on Japan. But Mr Trump has singled out Japan before: When he pulled the US out of a Pacific trade pact in January he criticised Japan for failing to buy American-made vehicles
The US' trade shortfall with Japan was US$69 billion last year, more than double the $27.6 billion deficit with South Korea, according to US Census Bureau data.
They came against the backdrop of a freshly strident tone from the Trump administration about China's need to rein in Pyongyang, and on Japan and South Korea over trade imbalances with America, reported Bloomberg.
"The recent actions show Trump is not happy with China and other Asian countries," international relations professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, Song Guoyou, was quoted as saying. "The businessman wants better deals. Now everyone just has to return to the negotiating table."
In his call with President Xi, Mr Trump also repeated his desire for more balanced ties with America's trading partners, according to a White House statement.
After Mr Trump enlisted the Chinese President's help in April to press Mr Kim to curtail his nuclear weapons and missile programmes, the US president dialled back his public criticisms of China. That tone has changed in recent weeks.
Mr Trump now says China isn't doing enough to help on North Korea and the US slapped sanctions on Chinese companies for doing business with the isolated regime. The US administration also announced a US$1.3 billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Mr Trump has also adopted a more strident tone on trade. In his first meeting with new South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week, he demanded a "fair shake" for US automakers in the country and called for a halt to exports of "dumped steel."
Meanwhile, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer stressed concern in a meeting with Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko over a decades-old trade deficit with Japan.
President of the Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu, Ralph Cossa, said there was some fear before the South Korean President's meeting with Mr Trump that the US President would threaten to walk away from the US-South Korea free-trade agreement.
"Instead, all they talked about was correcting a few 'unfair' practices at the margins," Mr Cossa said. "I did not hear any reference to 'renegotiate' or 'scrap' the agreement, but only to small potential side deals that would allow Trump to declare a 'win' without undoing an important agreement that has benefited both sides."
So far, the attacks on South Korea over trade have been harsher than on Japan. But Mr Trump has singled out Japan before: When he pulled the US out of a Pacific trade pact in January he criticised Japan for failing to buy American-made vehicles
The US' trade shortfall with Japan was US$69 billion last year, more than double the $27.6 billion deficit with South Korea, according to US Census Bureau data.