U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that it was “extremely hard” to make a deal with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, at a time when the White House has been suggesting the two leaders could talk this week amid rising trade tensions.
Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury secretary, said Thursday stateside that trade talks were “a bit stalled,” and the two countries’ leaders would likely need to weigh in. On Monday, a senior White House official told CNBC that Trump and Xi were likely to speak this week.
It remained unclear whether such a call had been arranged.
“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 wrote on Truth Social.
Washington and Beijing have blamed each other for violating a trade agreement reached in Switzerland on May 12. The deal included a 90-day suspension of most tariffs, as well as a broad repeal of trade countermeasures by China against the U.S. imposed since early April.
China has not significantly eased restrictions on rare earths exports, contrary to Washington’s expectations. Beijing has also criticized the U.S. for moving forward on efforts to limit China’s access to advanced technology. Last week, the Trump administration also announced it would start revoking visas for Chinese students.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during his first meeting with the new U.S. Ambassador David Perdue on Tuesday that the recent string of “negative measures” by the Trump administration were based on “groundless reasons,” and undermined China’s legitimate rights and interests, according to the official readout.
In the readout, Chinese authorities cited Perdue as saying that Trump had “great respect” for Xi, while calling on the U.S. to “meet China halfway” and work together on bringing the bilateral relations to return to the “right track.”
“This is apparently Beijing trying to leave the impression that the Trump wants to talk. Beijing publicly doing so indicates the phone call is drawing near,” said Neo Wang, lead China economist and strategist at Evercore ISI.
He said the meeting between Perdue and the top Chinese diplomat was planned for building the trust that Beijing needs, “so that Xi doesn’t get embarrassed by Trump after the call with words or actions.”
Trump and Xi last spoke in January, just before the U.S. president was sworn in for his second term. While Trump has in recent weeks said he would like to speak with Xi, analysts expect China to agree to that only if there’s certainty there will be no surprises from the U.S. during the call.
In a post on X late Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador said that he emphasized to Wang the U.S. priorities on trade, fentanyl and illegal immigration and the importance of maintaining bilateral communication between the two countries.
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