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Amid US-China tariff row, Donald Trump dials Xi Jinping
Taking to Truth Social, Trump stated that he has “always liked” the Chinese president but added that Jinping is “extremely hard to make a deal with.”
President Donald Trump spoke with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Thursday amid the ongoing tariff row between the US and China. This phone call marked the first direct interaction between the two leaders since Trump's ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcement.
Confirming the phone call, Donald Trump took to Truth Social and said that the one-and-a-half-hour-long phone call had a "positive conclusion."
"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. We will be represented by Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer," said Trump.
Trump further added that both the leader extended official invites to one another for a visit to China and the US.
"As Presidents of two Great Nations, this is something that we both look forward to doing. The conversation was focused almost entirely on TRADE. Nothing was discussed concerning Russia/Ukraine, or Iran," the US president added further.
The phone call came a day after Trump stated on Truth Social that he has “always liked” the Chinese president, adding that Jinping is “extremely hard to make a deal with.”
“I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!,” Trump posted on Wednesday on his social media site, Truth Social.
Chinese state media have also confirmed the phone call between Trump and Xi. As per a report by Xinhua, the Chinese foreign ministry stated that the conversation took place at the White House’s request. No other information has been made public regarding the conversation.
US-China tariff row
The United States and China have been locked in a series of trade negotiations after Trump announced he would be hiking the tariff rates for China to 145 per cent.
China, in a tit-for-tat move, also announced high tariffs on US goods, taking the total percentage to 125 per cent.
However, in May, delegations from the two countries struck a deal in Geneva which lowered US tariffs on goods from China from 145 per cent to 30 per cent. In exchange, China dropped its tariffs on US goods from 125 per cent to 10 per cent.
But since this development, trade negotiations have stalled. Earlier this week, the Chinese Commerce Ministry stated that the US had violated their recent trade deal by taking "multiple discriminatory restrictive measures against China."
These measures included the recent AI chip export controls, halt of sales of chip design software to China and the revoking of visas of Chinese students in the US.
"Instead of reflecting on its own actions, the United States has groundlessly accused China of violating the consensus, a claim that grossly distorts the facts. China firmly rejects these unjustified accusations,” a spokesperson from the commerce ministry was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
(With inputs from AP)
