Donald Trump said Wednesday that its was “extremely hard” to make a deal with China’s President Xi Jinping, at a time when the White House has been suggesting the two leaders could talk this week amid rising trade tensions.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday said the trade talks were “a bit stalled,” and the two countries’ leaders would likely need to weigh in.
“I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!,” the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social.
That post on the social media platform came after a senior White House official told CNBC on Monday that Trump and Xi were likely to speak this week.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the new U.S. Ambassador David Perdue during a meeting Tuesday that the recent string of “negative measures” by the Trump administration were based on “groundless reasons,” and undermined China’s legitimate rights and interests, according to the official readout.
The foreign minister called on the U.S. to “meet China halfway” and work together on bringing the bilateral relations to return to the “right track,” the statement read.
In the readout, Chinese authorities cited Perdue as saying that Trump has “great respect” for Xi.
“This is apparently Beijing trying to leave the impression that the Trump wants to talk. Beijing publicly doing so indicates the phone call is drawing near,” said Neo Wang lead China economist and strategist at Evercore ISI.
He said the Wang-Perdue meeting was planned for building trust “so that Xi doesn’t get embarrassed by Trump after the call with words or actions.”
In a post on X late Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador said he emphasized to Wang the U.S. priorities on trade, fentanyl and illegal immigration and the importance of maintaining bilateral communication between the two countries.
Washington and Beijing have blamed each other for violating a trade agreement reached in Switzerland on May 12. The deal called for a 90-day suspension of most tariffs, as well as broad repeal of trade countermeasures imposed since early April.
China has not significantly eased restrictions on rare earths exports, contrary to Washington’s expectations. Beijing has also criticized the U.S. for moving forward on efforts to limit China’s access to advanced technology. Last week, the Trump administration also announced it would start revoking visas for Chinese students.
Trump and Xi last spoke in January, just before the U.S. president was sworn in for his second term. While Trump has in recent weeks said he would like to speak with Xi, analysts expect China to agree to that only if there’s certainty there will be no surprises from the U.S. during the call.
