President Trump and China’s top leader Xi Jinping held a phone call Monday, the latest in a flurry of diplomatic and trade exchanges over tariffs and technology export restrictions.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said they discussed “many topics including Ukraine/Russia, Fentanyl, Soybeans and other Farm Products, etc.” He added that “we have done a good, and very important, deal for our Great Farmers — and it will only get better. Our relationship with China is extremely strong!”
China’s state news agency said the two sides should “keep up the momentum, keep moving forward in the right direction on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit, lengthen the list of cooperation and shorten the list of problems, so as to make more positive progress, create new space for China-U.S. cooperation and bring more benefits to the people of both countries and the world.”
The leaders last spoke by phone in September and met Oct. 30 in Busan, South Korea. After that meeting, the U.S. halved a 20% tariff that had been imposed to curb fentanyl flows; the average tariff on Chinese goods still remains just below 50%.
China said the bilateral relationship has “generally maintained a steady and positive trajectory,” a development it welcomed along with the broader international community.
In October, U.S. and Chinese trade teams reached a rough consensus that led the U.S. to abruptly pull back an additional 100% in threatened tariffs on Chinese goods. China suspended a planned export control regime on many refined rare earth materials — a sector where it has a near-monopoly. That pause is for one year, however, and China could still restrict exports later; refined rare earths are small but critical for many consumer and defense technologies, including automobiles, fighter jets and semiconductor manufacturing.
Trump said Xi invited him to visit Beijing in April, and that he invited Xi to make a state visit to Washington next year. Trump added they agreed it was important to “communicate often.”
According to the Chinese statement, the leaders also discussed China’s claims over Taiwan and the war in Ukraine. The statement quoted Xi as saying that “Taiwan’s return to China is an important part of the post-war international order.”
China is currently in a diplomatic standoff with Japan after Japan’s new prime minister warned that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be an “existential threat” to Japan. Chinese diplomats have protested at the United Nations, calling the remark “a grave violation,” and China has cut some tour-group flights to Japan, affecting a major source of Japanese tourism revenue.
President Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping shake hands in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 30. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
