US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are expected to speak this week, the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. The announcement comes days after Trump alleged Beijing of breaking a deal to reduce tariffs and trade limits.
While speaking to reporters, Leavitt said that the readout of the call would be provided if the two leaders spoke. Earlier, the White House National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett said that there were chances of Trump and Xi holding talks this week.
What is likely the agenda of the call?
As the development comes after Trump accused China of breaching a deal negotiated between two officials in Geneva last month, the agenda of the call is likely to sort out disagreements over the tariff the deal.
However, China has dismissed US’ allegations on Monday and accused the country of provoking “new economic and trade frictions”. On May 30, Trump accused China of violating the recent trade agreement, but the action was not specified.
Made deal with China in order to save them: Trump
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that he had considered the “fast deal” with China last month in order to save them from what he thought was going to be an adverse situation.
"Two weeks ago, China was in grave economic danger! The very high Tariffs I set made it virtually impossible for China to TRADE into the United States marketplace, which is, by far, the number one in the World. We went, in effect, COLD TURKEY with China, and it was devastating for them. Many factories closed and there was, to put it mildly, 'civil unrest.' I saw what was happening and didn't like it, for them, not for us,” Trump said in his post.
"I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn't want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY," he added.
