Trump says he could reach trade deal with China, calls talk with Xi ‘friendly’ by Reuters
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week was a friendly one and he thought he could reach a trade deal with China.
Why it matters
The leaders of the world’s two largest economies discussed issues including Tiktok, trade and Taiwan in a phone call before Trump took office on Monday.
Since taking office, Trump has talked about a punitive 10% duty on Chinese imports, because he says fentanyl is sent from China to the US via Mexico and Canada. However, he did not immediately impose tariffs as he had promised during his election campaign. Trump has also threatened tariffs against the European Union, Mexico and Canada.
Key quotes
“It went well. It was a good, friendly conversation,” Trump said of his call with the XI in an interview with Fox News that aired Thursday night.
“I can do it,” Trump said in an interview when asked if he could make a deal with China over fair trade practices.
Trump said he would prefer not to use tariffs against China, instead calling the tariffs “tremendous power.”
“But we have one very big power over China, which is tariffs, and they don’t want them, and I’d rather not have to use it, but it’s a huge power over China,” Trump added.
CONTEXT
The US and China are embroiled in a series of diplomatic and economic disagreements, including accelerating technological and military rivalry, bitter trade disputes and Washington’s concerns over ownership of popular social media app Tiktok, whose parent company is a Chinese company.
