By Xinghui Kok

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Top economic officials from the U.S. and China will face off in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday to try to avert an escalation of their trade war and ensure that a meeting happens next week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The talks on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit will seek to find a way forward after Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and other trade curbs starting on November 1, in retaliation for China’s vastly expanded export controls on rare earth magnets and minerals.

The recent actions, which also include an expanded U.S. export blacklist that covers thousands more Chinese firms, have disrupted a delicate trade truce crafted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Be

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