White House announces Trump likely to speak with Xi Jinping this week
The news came after President Donald Trump accused China of violating the agreement with the United States to reduce its tariffs.
Trump and Xi
The White House reported that U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will likely hold a telephone conversation this week. The announcement was made by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt amid trade tensions between the two countries.
However, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, asked about the possibility, said Beijing had "no information to give" on the subject.
The news followed President Trump’s Friday accusation that China had violated its most recent trade commitments to the United States by failing to reduce tariffs as agreed.
"China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US," said Trump, who argued that he had promoted the deal for China's sake because, in his view, U.S. measures were hurting the Chinese economy.
Trump's post on his Truth Social network came hours after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade talks with China were "a little bit stalled," in an interview with Fox News Channel.
After two days of meetings, Washington and Beijing decided to temporarily reduce their tariffs to 30% and 10%, respectively, and pledged to continue negotiations to reach a trade agreement.
The government relies on the call
Trump and Xi have yet to have any confirmed contact, more than five months after the Republican returned to power, and despite the tycoon's frequent assurances that they will talk imminently.
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