President Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday morning, with the President saying the two leaders spoke for 90 minutes and addressed issues surrounding a temporary truce reached on May 12 that was meant to alleviate the escalating trade war between the two countries. According to Chinese officials and state media, the conversation took place at the request of the White House.
Trump had posted to social media on Wednesday, airing frustrations on how the conversations between the U.S. and China were progressing: “I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!”
However in a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump said a meeting will now be held “shortly” between representatives from the two nations at a location to be determined: “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. We will be represented by Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer. During the conversation, President Xi graciously invited the First Lady and me to visit China, and I reciprocated. 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. We will inform the Media as to scheduling and location of the soon to be meeting. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Under the May 12 truce, the U.S. agreed to reduce tariffs on Chinese goods to around 30% from 145%, while China reduced its levies on American imports to 10%. However last week, Trump accused China of violating the May 12 deal. U.S. officials have said China is withholding some products, including rare earth minerals, that it agreed to resume exporting under the agreement. China responded that the U.S. is undermining the deal by imposing new export control guidelines on AI chips and planning to revoke Chinese student visas.
Trump is also facing major challenges in U.S.-China relations, including efforts to force a sale of TikTok by its Chinese parent company ByteDance, and ongoing attempts to curb the flow of fentanyl, much of which U.S. authorities believe is sourced from Chinese labs. A deadline that would require ByteDance to divest from the app or face a U.S. ban is set for June 19; unless an agreement is reached, Trump may have to extend the deadline for a third time.
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