President Trump spoke with Chinese language President Xi Jinping on Thursday amid ongoing tensions and stalled negotiations between the 2 nations over tariffs.
Xinhua, a Chinese language state media outlet, reported on the decision, saying Xi “held phone talks” with Trump on Thursday. The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The U.S. is in a fragile truce with its high buying and selling companion after officers hashed out an settlement with China final month to decrease the tariff price on imports from 145 p.c to 30 p.c. Beijing additionally lowered its price on U.S. items from 125 p.c to 10 p.c.
Trump and Xi have had a fraught relationship lately. The president on Wednesday mentioned Xi is “extremely hard to make a deal with” however that he has at all times preferred the Chinese language president.
Trump per week in the past railed towards China, saying Beijing violated the commerce settlement with the U.S. that lowered the tariff price.
On the time, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned talks with China over commerce are considerably in limbo, telling Fox Information’s Bret Baier they’re “a bit stalled” however that there could also be a name between Trump and Xi in some unspecified time in the future.
Following the commerce deal two weeks in the past, Trump mentioned he thought China would have suffered extra if the escalating commerce conflict had been extended.
Trump on Tuesday prolonged a long-running exemption for Chinese language-made chips from a 25 p.c tariff imposed throughout his first administration. The exemption, which was set to run out, was prolonged to Aug. 31 and comes because the administration weighs whether or not to impose separate import taxes on semiconductors.
The White Home additionally despatched a letter this week to commerce companions, urging them to make commerce offers earlier than the 90-day pause on Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” expires subsequent month. Officers haven’t mentioned which nations obtained the letters.
Trump and Xi spoke in January, simply earlier than the president’s inauguration, for talks targeted on commerce and the destiny of the app TikTok.
