WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (Feb 19) he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the United States without giving a timeline for his trip.
Trump made the remarks to reporters on Air Force One and said “it’s possible” for the US and China to have a new trade deal. A conversation or interaction between Xi and Trump is seen as crucial to a potential easing or delay of trade tariffs.
“We’ll have, ultimately, President Xi, we will have everybody coming (to the US),” Trump said while also speaking about others leaders visiting the United States.
Xi last travelled to the US in November 2023, in his fifth visit to the country as Chinese president, for a summit with then US President Joe Biden, resulting in agreements to resume military-to-military communications and curb fentanyl production.
Trump and Xi had spoken just before Trump took office on Jan 20 and discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he was talking to China about TikTok as the United States seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese parent firm ByteDance.
Trump said last week he had spoken to Xi since taking office as well, but did not offer details on the topics of that conversation. China’s foreign ministry did not directly comment on Trump’s remarks that day and instead referred reporters to their “scheduled” call before Trump took office.
Washington and Beijing have had tense relations for years over differences ranging from trade tariffs and cybersecurity to TikTok, Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and the origins of COVID-19.
Trump also told reporters he could make a deal with Russia over the war in Ukraine.
“We can make a deal with Russia to stop the killing,” Trump said, adding he thought the Russians wanted to see the war end.
“I think they have the cards a little bit because they’ve taken a lot of territory so they have the cards,” Trump said.
