Trump and Xi will likely speak this week, White House says
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US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping posing for a photo at the G-20 summit on June 29, 2019, in Osaka, Japan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will likely speak this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on June 2, days after Mr Trump accused China of violating an agreement to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions.
Ms Leavitt is the third top Trump aide to forecast an imminent call between the two leaders to iron out differences on May’s tariff agreement in Geneva, among larger trade issues.
It was not immediately clear when the two leaders will speak.
Asked about the statement on June 3, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing had “no information to provide”.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CBS’ Face The Nation on June 1 that Mr Trump and Mr Xi would speak “very soon” to iron out trade issues, including a dispute over critical minerals and China’s restrictions of exports of certain minerals.
Mr Trump said on May 30 he was sure that he would speak to Mr Xi. China said in April that the two leaders had not had a conversation recently.
On May 31, the US Trade Representative’s office announced it would continue to exclude certain solar manufacturing equipment and other products from existing tariffs on Chinese goods until Aug 31, offering a three-month extension while talks with Beijing continue.
Mr Bessent led negotiations with China in Geneva in May that resulted in a temporary truce in the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, but progress since then has been slow, the US Treasury chief told Fox News last week.
The US-China agreement to dial back triple-digit tariffs for 90 days prompted a massive relief rally in global stocks. But it did nothing to address the underlying reasons for Mr Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods, mainly longstanding US complaints about China’s state-dominated, export-driven economic model, leaving those issues for future talks.
A US trade court on May 28 ruled that Mr Trump had overstepped his authority in imposing the bulk of his tariffs on imports from China and other countries under an emergency powers Act.
But less than 24 hours later, a federal appeals court reinstated the tariffs, saying it was pausing the trade court ruling to consider the government’s appeal.
The appeals court ordered the plaintiffs to respond by June 5 and the administration to respond by June 9. REUTERS
