US President Trump, Chinese counterpart Xi ‘likely’ to hold talks this week: White House

WASHINGTON, DC: US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are “likely” to hold talks this week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday (local time), ABC News reported.

While speaking to reporters, Leavitt said that the readout of the call would be provided if the two leaders hold talks. Earlier on Sunday, the White House National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, had said that there was an expectation for Trump and Xi to hold talks this week.

Responding to the reporter’s query, Leavitt said, “I can confirm that the two leaders will likely talk this week.” “And as always, when foreign leaders call, we will provide a readout of those calls,” she added, as per ABC News report.

Hassett made the remarks during an appearance on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday. However, he did not mention the specific date when the two leaders would hold talks.

The development comes after Trump accused China of breaching a deal negotiated between officials of the two nations in Geneva last month to roll back high tariffs for 90 days. However, China rejected Trump’s allegations on Monday and accused the US of provoking “new economic and trade frictions.”

On May 30, Trump accused China of violating a recent trade agreement with the US. However, he did not mention China’s action that violated its agreement with China.

In a post shared on Truth Social, he stated, “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.”

“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.

Earlier in May, the US announced a trade deal with China in Geneva. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said that there was substantial progress between the parties.

“I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks. First, I want to thank our Swiss host. The Swiss government has been very kind in providing us this wonderful venue, and I think that led to a great deal of productivity we’ve seen. We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive,” the White House quoted Bessent as saying.

“We had the vice premier, two vice ministers, who were integrally involved, Ambassador Jamieson, and myself. And I spoke to President Trump, as did Ambassador Jamieson, last night, and he is fully informed of what is going on. So, there will be a complete briefing tomorrow morning,” he added.

US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer said that the parties came to a conclusion very quickly. “This was, as the Secretary pointed out, a very constructive two days. It’s important to understand how quickly we were able to come to an agreement, which reflects that perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought,” he said.

Greer hoped that the deal would help the US deal with a trade deficit of USD 1.2 trillion. “That being said, there was a lot of groundwork that went into these two days. Just remember why we’re here in the first place — the United States has a massive USD1.2 trillion trade deficit, so the President declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs, and we’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency,” the statement read. (ANI)