President Donald Trump said the Chinese leader Xi Jinping would soon visit Washington as trade tensions have been built between the two biggest economies in the world.
XI came in “not too distant future,” said Trump attended the board meeting at the John F. Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts on Monday, promoting a series of visits by leaders from India, France, the UK and Ireland.
Since returning to the office, Trump has stepped up his trade battle with China and won two hiking blanket fees for imports from Asian countries. The president calls these moves the response to their failure to crack down on the illegal flow of fentanyl and the flow of precursor chemicals used to make it.
Wall Street Journal Previously reported US and Chinese officials were discussing the “birthday summit” in June, when they could see the two leaders (both have birthdays mid-month) for the first time since Trump returned to the White House. The US President did not detail the specific timing of possible meetings.
Mahonning, a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said at a regular briefing in Beijing on Tuesday that he had no information to provide about a potential Trump XI meeting.
Trump tooI saidLast month he spoke with XI “probably in the next 24 hours” as the first 10% tariff hike was on the verge of. The deadline for that tariff was passed without official records that the two men were talking about.
The top Chinese and US leaders usually visit each other’s countries in turn. This is a protocol that will put Trump accountable to visit Beijing before holding his counterpart. XI traveled to California in late 2023, but Joe Biden became the first US president as Jimmy Carter did not visit China while in office.
Usually, discussions between the two countries that set up leadership meetings areStuck at a lower levelboth sides are deadlocked about how to proceed. Beijing said Washington had not outlined detailed measures that hoped to lift fentanyl tariffs from China. Trump’s team rejected the allegation and said the White House had sent a message to China through diplomatic channels, according to anyone familiar with the issue.
According to those familiar with the issue, Republican Sen. Steve Daines, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, is expected to meet senior Chinese leaders and representatives of Chinese companies. Daines said on social media that one of the issues he raises is “a fatal fentanyl flow to our country.”
“thank you”
China has criticized TrumpUse fentanyl as an excuseIncrease customs duties. Foreign Ministry officials last week urged the Trump administration to resume talks, saying Washington should provide a “big thank you” for Beijing’s work cracking down on drug trafficking, rather than slap the import tax.
China has implementation Although retaliatory tariffs, these measures are more limited than their response to Trump’s trade actions in his first term. After Trump doubled tariffs on Chinese imports to 20% earlier this month, Beijing announced a tax of 15% on US agricultural products, banning trade with some defense companies.
Trump says he is open to talking about reaching the deal, even as he intensifies pressure on Beijing. In such a debate, the US will want to address more than fentanyl, according to those familiar with the issues that helped create jobs in the American centre, ensured the centrality of the dollar in global trade, and ensured Xi’s support to end the war in Ukraine.
The focus of Beijing’s trade agreements during Trump’s first term also promised China to crack down on the theft of US trade secrets and to purchase another $200 billion in American products. The US review of that agreement is scheduled to wrap on April 1st.
Trump has often praised XI, but their relationship during his first term has derailed after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, a global public health crisis in which US leaders denounced China.
The two men at the end spoke In January, a few days before the US president began for his second term, debate touched on trade relations, a potential sale of Bytedance Ltd.’s Tiktok app’s U.S. operations, and an effort to curb fentanyl trafficking.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.
