President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in a lengthy call amid economic and national security friction regarding trade between Washington and Beijing.
‘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,’ Trump said Thursday in a Truth Social post. ‘The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.’
Trump said the conversation focused ‘almost entirely’ on trade, and that Xi invited the U.S. president and first lady Melania Trump to visit China. Trump also said he extended an invitation to Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan.
Chinese media first reported the call between the two leaders on Thursday, and claimed that the call occurred per Trump’s request. White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told ABC News on Sunday that Trump was expected to talk with the Chinese president this week.
The call comes nearly a week after Trump condemned China for violating an initial trade agreement that the U.S. and China hashed out in May, and a day after Trump said Xi was ‘extremely hard to make a deal with’ in a Truth Social post.
The negotiations led both countries to agree that the U.S. would ramp down its tariffs against Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, and China would cut its tariffs against U.S. imports from 125% to 10%.
But Trump accused China on Friday of not holding up its end of the bargain, although he refrained from disclosing specifics.
‘The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US,’ Trump said Friday in a social media post. ‘So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!’
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday in an interview with CNBC that China had failed to lift its non-tariff barriers, as outlined in the deal.
‘The United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slow-rolling their compliance, which is completely unacceptable and has to be addressed,’ Greer said Friday.
Meanwhile, China pressed the U.S. to reverse course and address its own mistakes.
‘China once again urges the US to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva,’ Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a Friday statement.
But Trump later indicated that the two leaders ironed out their differences.
‘We had a very good talk, and we’ve straightened out any complexity, and it’s very complex stuff, and we straightened it out,’ Trump said Thursday during an Oval Office press briefing with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
‘I think we’re in very good shape with China and the trade deal,’ Trump said. ‘We have a deal with China, as you know, but we were straightening out some of the points… I would say we have a deal, and we’re going to just make sure that everybody understands what the deal is.’
Meanwhile, Trump’s invitation to Xi and Peng to visit the U.S. comes as Trump’s administration cracks down on student visa holders in the U.S. and as Trump has threatened to ‘aggressively’ rescind visas of students from China.
On Thursday, Trump appeared to take a softer approach though and said that he did want foreign students to come to the U.S. — he just wants them to undergo proper vetting.
‘We want to have foreign students, but we want them to be checked,’ Trump said from the White House.
