US president previously said it was ‘hard to make a deal’ with the Chinese leader as talks continue over trade.
United States President Donald Trump has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping by phone as the two countries continue to clash over trade relations, which Trump has sought to aggressively reshape through a series of tariffs.
The Chinese state media outlet Xinhua reported that the phone call on Thursday took place at the request of the US. Trump had said the day before that reaching a deal with China was proving difficult.
In the first readout of the call, Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social, “I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal. The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.”
“There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products. Our respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined. During the conversation, President Xi graciously invited the First Lady and me to visit China, and I reciprocated,” he added.
Trump also noted the conversation was focused almost entirely on trade and that neither the Russia-Ukraine war nor the Iran nuclear talks were mentioned.
On Wednesday, Trump had posted: “I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!”.
For his part, Xi was quoted by Chinese State TV as saying after the call Thursday, the two countries should strive for a win-win outcome and that dialogue and cooperation are the only right choice for both. The two sides should respect each others’ concerns, he added.
Xi also stressed that the US should handle the Taiwan issue very “carefully”.
China and the US reached a 90-day agreement on May 12 to bring down tariffs amid a trade war initiated by the Trump administration, but tensions have remained high since then.
Washington imposed significant tariffs on Beijing, but eventually eased off amid concerns about the potential economic fallout of a sustained trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Critics have accused Trump of causing enormous disruptions in the global economy and then backing down when China or the European Union hit back forcefully.
The Trump administration has also launched a crackdown on Chinese international students living in the US, threatening to revoke student visas of those associated with the Chinese Communist Party or who the government claims pose vaguely defined threats to US national security. More than 277,000 Chinese students were enrolled in US universities during the 2023-2024 academic year.
China said such steps, along with others targeting China’s technology sector, violate the temporary trade truce reached with the US in May.
“These practices seriously violate the consensus,” the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing said in a recent statement.
While disputes between Washington and Beijing over issues such as trade and technology have been a common feature of their relations for decades, these tensions have ratcheted up as Trump sets out to change what he sees as a global imbalance of commercial exchange between the US and other countries, including China.
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