Trump says call with Xi Jinping was 'very positive' for both countries

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping held a telephone conversation Thursday amid strong trade and diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, the two leaders spoke "at the behest" of the U.S. president.

After the call, Trump said he had a "very good" phone call on trade with Xi and added that the two leaders have invited each other to visit their respective countries.

"The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries," Trump said on Truth Social. He added that the U.S. and China trade teams will hold a further meeting "shortly."

"President Xi graciously invited the First Lady and me to visit China, and I reciprocated. As Presidents of two Great Nations, this is something that we both look forward to doing," Trump added.

The Chinese president on Thursday called on his U.S. counterpart to "[correct] the course" of bilateral relations between the two countries, state media said.

"Correcting the course of the big ship of Sino-U.S. relations requires us to steer well and set the direction, especially to eliminate all kinds of interference and even destruction," Xi told Trump, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Also, Xi Jinping asked Trump to deal "cautiously" with the Taiwan issue to avoid a "conflict."

Washington "should treat the Taiwan issue with caution" to prevent "the 'Taiwan independence' separatists from dragging China and the United States into the danger of conflict and confrontation," the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Both powers accuse each other of sabotaging trade deal

The call came at a time when the two powers are accusing each other of jeopardizing the trade deal negotiated last month in Switzerland.

Last week, the Republican leader accused China of not respecting the terms of the tariff truce negotiated in Geneva on May 12.

The U.S. and China had reached an agreement to temporarily suspend a spiral of tariffs that had raised Chinese import taxes on American goods to 125% and U.S. import taxes on Chinese goods to 145%.

After two days of meetings, Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily reduce their tariffs to 30% and 10% respectively, pledging to continue talks with a view to reaching a trade deal.