U.S. President Donald Trump said his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week was “friendly” and he believes he can reach a trade deal with China. The two leaders discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan in a phone call before Trump took office on Monday.
Since taking office, Trump has threatened tariffs against China, saying that fentanyl is being sent to the U.S. from China via Mexico and Canada. However, he did not immediately impose tariffs as he had promised during his election campaign. Trump has also threatened tariffs against the European Union, Mexico, and Canada.
“It went fine. It was a good, friendly conversation,” Trump said of his call with Xi in an interview with Fox News aired on Thursday evening. “I can do that,” Trump said when asked if he could make a deal with China over fair trade practices. Trump said he would rather not use tariffs against China but considered them a “tremendous power.”
The U.S. and China are embroiled in an array of diplomatic and economic disagreements, including an accelerating technological and military rivalry, bitter trade disputes, and Washington’s concerns with the ownership of famous social media app TikTok, whose parent company is Chinese firm ByteDance.
