Donald Trump Likely To Speak With Xi Jinping This Week Amid US-China Tariff Tensions

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Donald Trump is likely to speak with Xi Jinping "very soon" amid the ongoing tariff war between the US and China, the White House said.
US President Donald Trump is likely to speak with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, this week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday. This comes days after Trump accused the rival country of breaking a deal to reduce tariffs and trade limits.
The agenda of the call is likely to sort out disagreements over last month's tariff deal made in Geneva, besides other major trade issues between the two countries. However, it was not entirely clear when Trump and Jinping would speak.
Leavitt is the third top US official to confirm Trump's possible call with Jinping, after the President himself and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Bessent told CBS News on Sunday that Trump and Jinping would talk to each other 'very soon" to discuss the trade differences, which also include a dispute over critical minerals and Beijing's restrictions on exports of certain minerals.
Trump said last week on Friday that he was sure he would speak with his Chinese counterpart.
Bessent led the trade talks with China in Geneva last month, which resulted in a temporary pause in the trade war between the two economic giants, however, the progress has been slow since then, the US Treasury chief said in an interview with Fox News last week.
The announcement of the US-China deal to put on hold the retaliatory high tariffs on each other for 90 days sparked a big rally in global stock markets. However, it didn't solve the main reasons behind Trump's tariffs on Chinese products — especially U.S. concerns about China's state-controlled, export-focused economy. Such issues are yet to be discussed in future conversations between the two leaders.
Last week, a US trade court ruled that Trump went beyond his legal powers when he imposed most of his tariffs on imports from China and other countries, including India, using emergency law on April 2.
However, a federal appeals court put that decision on hold and brought the tariffs back, stating that it needed time to review the government's appeal. The appeals court gave the challengers until June 5 to respond, and the Trump administration until June 9.
First Published:
June 03, 2025, 07:05 IST

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