US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Thursday agreed to further trade talks aimed at resolving disputes over tariffs and supplies of rare earths at the heart of tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump acknowledged that the trade relationship with China had gotten “a little off track,” but said now “we’re in very good shape with China and the trade deal.”
Additional negotiations would occur “shortly” at “a location to be determined,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are to represent Trump at the talks.
“This is very complex stuff, and we straightened it out,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office. “We were straightening out some of the points, having to do mostly with rare earth magnets and some other things.”
The call generated some hope on Wall Street for lower duties between the trading partners, though investors’ optimism was limited. US equities remained little changed on Thursday afternoon after an earlier advance following the leaders’ call.
“The 90-minute call between Trump and Xi appears to have importantly broken the impasse on critical minerals and other immediate concerns to pave the way for trade talks,” said Wendy Cutler, a former senior US trade negotiator now at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Xi invited Trump and first lady Melania Trump to visit China, a Chinese government statement said, and Trump posted on social media that he “reciprocated” with an invitation for Xi to visit the US.
The US president later said that both leaders had accepted the offers.
Thursday’s call marked the latest turn in the roller-coaster relationship between the US and China since Trump’s return to the White House. It came just one day after the US president lamented on social media that his counterpart was “extremely hard to make a deal with.”
Whether the call would unlock lasting trade peace, and crucially shipments of critical minerals needed by US companies, remains to be seen.
Trump did not specify whether Beijing had agreed to speed export licenses on magnets crucial to a wide range of critical US products. Questions also remained about what Trump had conceded to Xi.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said that Trump told Xi Chinese students are welcome to study in the US, even though the US has moved to block foreigners from obtaining visas and revoke some from students.
“Chinese students are coming. No problem. No problem. It’s our honor to have them,” Trump later told reporters.
China’s statements also struck a more combative tone than the US leader’s. The Chinese ministry earlier said that the call was initiated at Trump’s request. Xi asked Trump to remove the “negative measures” the US has imposed on China, according to its statement.
Xi said that Beijing had complied with the terms of a tariff truce struck by the two nations last month in Geneva, Switzerland, the statement said, even as US officials have complained that export controls on rare earths have not been lifted quickly enough.
“Given how quickly misunderstandings surfaced after the Geneva meetings, expectations for the trade talks should be low,” Cutler said.
Trump said the one-and-a-half-hour conversation was focused almost entirely on trade, although the Chinese readout suggested Xi had cautioned Trump on Taiwan after reports the US was stepping up arms shipments.
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