Diplomacy: In the middle of the trade conflict: Trump and XI make calls

In the midst of the ongoing trade conflict, US President Donald Trump made calls with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. He accepted an invitation to China on the phone and invited Xi to Washington in return, Trump explained. The invitation to Beijing was confirmed by the Chinese side.

With regard to the trade conflict of the two largest economies, the evaluation of the conversation by Trump seemed significantly rosier than that from Beijing.

Trump explained on his Truth Social platform that the phone call took around an hour and a half and turned to “subtleties” of the trade agreement completed in May. There were “very positive results”. Trump continues to meet the ranked representative of the United States and China shortly, Trump continued.

China warns compliance with the agreement

Xi struck a more reserved tone, as the Chinese emerged. He made it clear to Trump to adhere to mutual agreements. XI said the Chinese are known to consistently adhere to their commitments. Since a consensus had been achieved in Geneva in May, both sides would have to stick to it. The Chinese side had seriously and conscientiously implemented the agreement, said XI.

The US side should objectively evaluate the progress made and take back its negative measures against China, Beijing demanded. The two heads of state agreed that their teams would continue to implement the consensus and will initiate a new round of talks as soon as possible.

Dispute of rare earths

After the conversation, Trump said that there should be no problems with the rare earths. He did not give any further details. China dominates the world market for rare earths, which are very important for the production of many products.

Trump wrote about the planned mutual visits: “As President of two great nations, this is something that we are both looking forward to.” At some point he would travel there with his wife Melania.

Russia, Ukraine or Iran did not come up with the conversation with XI, said Trump. The day before, the US President had declared Truth Social that he might, but it was “exceptionally difficult” to make a “deal” with the Chinese counterpart.

First known phone call

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.

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.

Ton had recently tightened

The trade conflict of the two largest economies keeps the global economy in suspense. Trump has been a tough trading policy course for China since taking office.

A direct exchange of the two presidents is therefore particularly important. Trump 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. In the meantime, the Republican had increased punitive tariffs on imports from China to the United States in several steps to dizzying 145 percent, whereupon Beijing reacted with counter -tariffs.

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.