Donald Trump calls China’s President Xi Jinping

In the midst of the ongoing trade conflict, US President Donald Trump has telephoned with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, according to Beijings. This was reported by China’s state news agency Xinhua. So far, concrete details about the content of the conversation have not been known. The conversation came about at the request of the US President.

There was initially no confirmation from the White House for the phone call. However, Donald Trump announced that he accepted an invitation from his Chinese counterpart and invited Xi Jingping to Washington in return. “As President of two great nations, this is something that we both look forward to,” wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform. Xi also invited his wife Melania Trump.

The phone call took around an hour and a half and almost exclusively turned to trading topics, Trump continued. Russia, Ukraine or Iran were not discussed. It was the first known call of the two presidents since Trump’s office in January. They had spoken to each other a few days before his swearing -in, but not afterwards – as far as public is known. The day before, Trump had explained on his Truth Social platform that he might, but it was “exceptionally difficult” to make a “deal” with the Chinese counterpart.

Trump and XI had spoken to each other a few days before Trump’s swearing -in, but not afterwards – as far as is known. In the past few months, however, the US President had reacted to a possible conversation with XI and left open whether there could have been a direct exchange with the Chinese president in the meantime. Usually, government centers are publicly informing them about such activities after talks between heads of state and government.

A direct exchange of the two presidents is particularly important due to the severe trade conflict of both countries. Trump has been a tough trade policy course for China since taking office and has once again tightened the conflict of both states that has been smoldering for years – even if he regularly emphasizes that he has a good relationship with XI. At the beginning of April, the US President imposed a total of 145 percent against China, Beijing reacted with high counter-duties. In mid -May, the two countries then agreed to significantly reduce the surcharges for 90 days to enable negotiations. Most recently, the sound between both sides had tightened again. It was only on Friday that Trump accused China of violating the agreement with the USA.

Both sides had taken a break in the escalation spiral in mid -May and at least temporarily agreed on mutual reduction in punitive tariffs. In the end, however, the tone had become rougher again – and the underlying disagreements have not been solved.

In the US Senate, a new sanction package against Russia is also being prepared, which according to the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is aimed against countries that continue to remove Russian oil, gas and other energy products. China would therefore be particularly affected by the planned punitive measures.

Note: This post has been updated.