President Donald Trump confirmed plans on Thursday to visit China as soon as possible — and to host genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping in America, as well.
Xi and Trump held their first phone call together since Trump was inaugurated for a second term as president in January. During his first term in office, Trump’s foreign policy focused intensely on combatting China’s malignant influence on the world stage, from the debt traps of Beijing’s “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) to China’s espionage, intellectual property theft, and use of slavery to outcompete international manufacturers. Trump never antagonized Xi personally, however, and always offered gracious words about the Communist Party chief during his tenure.
Trump revealed details of his conversation with Xi on Thursday morning, describing the conversation as “very good,” “very positive,” and “almost entirely on TRADE.” He noted that the two did not address critical geopolitical flashpoint issues such as the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine or Iran’s rogue nuclear weapons program.
“The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries,” Trump wrote in a post about the phone call on his social network Truth Social.
“During the conversation, President Xi graciously invited the First Lady and me to visit China, and I reciprocated,” Trump revealed. “As Presidents of two Great Nations, this is something that we both look forward to doing. The conversation was focused almost entirely on TRADE.”
“Nothing was discussed concerning Russia/Ukraine, or Iran. We will inform the Media as to scheduling and location of the soon to be meeting. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he concluded.
During a press event at the White House on Thursday, Trump added that both he and Xi had accepted the mutual invitation.
“He invited me to China and I invited him here,” Trump told reporters. “We both accepted, so I’ll be going there with the First Lady at a certain point, he’ll be coming here hopefully with the first lady of China.”
“We had a very good talk and we’ve straightened out any complexity — it’s very complex stuff, and we figured it out,” Trump added. “I think we’re in very good shape with China and the trade deal.”
President Trump visited China in November 2017, during his first term in office. That travel followed Xi Jinping traveling to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April of that year. Xi’s visit was memorable as his stay at the estate coincided with President Trump ordering airstrikes on the regime of dictator Bashar Assad in Syria which was allied with China. The Assad regime fell in December, leaving China in an awkward position with the regime that replaced it established by the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Anonymous reports in January indicated that President Trump was eager to visit China as soon as possible, potentially even within the first 100 days of his new term. That visit did not materialize, nor did anyone confirm such ambitions on the record. The South China Morning Post, also citing anonymous sources, claimed that Chinese officials were hoping for a “more formal” visit than a stop at Mar-a-Lago which Trump officials had allegedly offered.
The Chinese state outlet Xinhua confirmed the phone call on Thursday but offered limited details and did not mention the invitations to visit each other’s countries. The Chinese side instead emphasized Xi stating that China and America must work together to ensure smooth bilateral economic ties. Xi Jinping himself has made no such public comments on the call; Xi rarely appears in public and even more rarely makes extemporaneous public statements.
“Xi said that recalibrating the direction of the giant ship of China-U.S. relations requires the two sides to take the helm and set the right course, adding that it is particularly important to steer clear of the various disturbances and disruptions,” Xinhua relayed. “The two sides need to make good use of the economic and trade consultation mechanism already in place, and seek win-win results in the spirit of equality and respect for each other’s concerns,” he said.
“The U.S. side should acknowledge the progress already made and remove the negative measures taken against China,” it added, apparently a reference to tariffs President Trump imposed on Chinese goods to make the American market fairer to American manufacturers.
Xi reportedly told Trump that China and America should “enhance communication in such fields as foreign affairs, economy and trade, military, and law enforcement” and offered some light warning that Trump should limit his support of the Taiwanese government, which China refuses to recognize as legitimate. Trump did not mention Taiwan in his comment on the phone call.
The bulk of the phone call reportedly focused on trade talks and China’s dominance of rare-earth minerals. Rare-earth minerals are materials critical to the manufacture of many high-tech items, including cars, computers, and phones. The Trump administration had accused Chinese officials of slowing down the approval of export licenses for rare-earth minerals, potentially in response to measures by the White House to limit Chinese access to American chip technology. The rift complicated greater trade talks for an agreement that would, the Trump administration hoped, improve America’s trade imbalance with China.
Those talks will continue, Trump announced following his call with Xi. The president announced that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would schedule talks soon with Chinese counterparts to hash out a preferable agreement.
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