Trump, Xi Hold Key Call Amid Trade War Tensions

Trump described the hour-and-a-half-long call as ending with a “very positive conclusion,” saying the two leaders agreed to meet in person soon. However, Beijing’s tone was notably more cautious, with President Xi urging the U.S. to help “correct the course” of bilateral ties.

The conversation marked the first publicly confirmed contact between the two leaders since Trump’s return to office in January. It followed renewed accusations from both Washington and Beijing over violations of a fragile trade truce reached last month during talks in Geneva.

“The call lasted approximately one and a half hours and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both countries,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He added that U.S. and Chinese trade teams would resume talks “shortly” and that he had accepted an invitation to visit China, extending a reciprocal invitation to Xi.

Despite hopes that China might influence Moscow over the war in Ukraine, Trump said the topic was not discussed. “The conversation was focused almost entirely on TRADE,” he stated, highlighting unresolved disputes over rare earth minerals critical to the global tech supply chain.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have intensified in recent months after Trump reimposed sweeping global tariffs in April, with China being hit hardest. The U.S. later added levies of up to 145% on Chinese goods, prompting retaliatory tariffs from Beijing reaching as high as 125%.

As recently as this week, Trump had described Xi as “extremely hard to make a deal with,” while Chinese state media emphasized that the call came at Trump’s request. The White House did not immediately confirm that detail.
Beijing’s Message: ‘Steer the Ship Right’

In its official readout, Chinese state news agency Xinhua struck a more measured tone, quoting Xi as saying that “correcting the course of the big ship of Sino-U.S. relations requires us to steer well and set the direction, especially to eliminate all kinds of interference and even destruction.”

Xi also reiterated his invitation for Trump to visit China, recalling the former U.S. president’s state visit during his first term in 2017.

While both sides had agreed in Geneva last month to suspend tariffs for 90 days, mutual accusations of non-compliance quickly followed. Trump recently claimed China had “totally violated” the agreement, though he did not offer specific details.

China’s Ministry of Commerce pushed back earlier this week, accusing the Trump administration of introducing “discriminatory restrictive measures,” including the revocation of student visas for Chinese nationals.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has expanded pressure on Chinese citizens entering the U.S., with the president promising more aggressive enforcement against both legal and undocumented entrants. On a broader scale, Trump has also reignited tensions with other global trade partners, announcing a doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Wednesday.

Though the Xi-Trump call has opened a diplomatic channel, the road to restoring stable trade relations remains fraught with mutual suspicion and unresolved disputes.