President Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping held a phone call Monday, the latest in a flurry of diplomatic and trade exchanges between the two countries over tariffs and technology export restrictions.
In a Truth Social post about the call, President Trump said: “We discussed many topics including Ukraine/Russia, Fentanyl, Soybeans and other Farm Products, etc. 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 both countries 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.”
Trump and Xi last spoke by phone in September and met in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30. After that meeting, the U.S. halved a 20% tariff that had been imposed to curb fentanyl flows. Cumulatively, the average tariff on Chinese goods still remains just below 50%.
“Since then, the China-U.S. relationship has generally maintained a steady and positive trajectory, and this is welcomed by the two countries and the broader international community,” the Chinese statement said.
In October, trade negotiation teams from the U.S. and China reached a rough consensus that led the U.S. to 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 developed a near-bottleneck. That suspension is for one year; afterward China could still restrict access to materials used in consumer and defense technologies, including automobiles, fighter jets and semiconductor manufacturing.
In his Truth Social post, Trump said Xi invited him to visit Beijing in April, and that he had invited Xi for a state visit to Washington next year. “We agreed that it is important that we communicate often, which I look forward to doing,” Trump wrote.
According to the Chinese statement, the leaders also discussed China’s claims over Taiwan and talked about Ukraine. China has repeatedly urged Ukraine to sign a peace agreement with Russia, one of China’s main trading partners. On the call, Xi emphasized that “Taiwan’s return to China is an important part of the post-war international order,” according to the Chinese statement.
China is currently in a diplomatic standoff with Japan after Japan’s new prime minister said a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be an “existential threat” to Japan. Chinese diplomats have complained at the United Nations that the statement was “a grave violation” and Beijing has cut off some tour group flights to Japan, a major beneficiary of Chinese tourism.