US President Donald Trump says Chinese leader Xi Jinping is “extremely hard to make a deal with” in a comment that comes as frictions rise between the two countries, weeks after they reached an agreement to de-escalate trade tensions.
“I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!” Trump wrote in a post on his platform Truth Social in the early hours of Wednesday morning Washington time.
Tensions have ratcheted up between the United States and China as expected trade talks between the two sides appeared to stall just weeks into a 90-day tariff truce agreed to last month in Geneva.
That truce hit pause on a damaging tit-for-tat escalation of tariffs sparked by Washington’s raising of duties on Chinese imports into the US. Trump has since accused China of “violating” the agreement – a charge Beijing has denied, while it accuses the US of taking measures that “seriously undermine” their consensus.
Trump’s latest remarks come as a long-awaited call between the US president and Xi has yet to materialize, despite repeated suggestions from the White House that such talks, which Washington sees as key to jump-starting progress, were imminent.
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Monday said the two leaders would likely speak “this week,” while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation that aired Sunday said he believed that issues between the two sides would be “ironed out” in a leader-level call “very soon.” China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it had “no information to share” when asked about the potential call at a regular media briefing. The two leaders are not known to have had a call since days before Trump’s inauguration in January.
The president’s latest comments, expressing that he “likes” Xi, however, appear more conciliatory than a missive posted on social media Friday where he wrote that China “TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US.” Then, Trump said that he made a “fast deal” with China to “save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation.” He added: “So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”
Trump had in recent months repeatedly raised tariffs on Chinese goods, part of his broader efforts aimed at reshaping the US role in global trade and reversing the offshoring of American jobs and decline of US manufacturing. US tariffs on steel and aluminum doubled to 50% as of 12:01 am ET on Wednesday, while the White House also negotiates with a host of countries on tariffs.
The president’s Wednesday message about Xi echoes some of his past friendly and even admiring language toward the Chinese leader – one of a handful of strongmen that Trump has praised or lauded close relations with throughout his political career.
It also follows a meeting on Tuesday in Beijing between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and newly arrived US ambassador to China David Perdue, where Wang urged the US to work with China to “return relations to the right track.”
When asked about Trump’s Wednesday comments during a regular briefing in Beijing Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that “China’s principles and position of developing China-US relations are consistent.”
Frictions have emerged in the wake of the Geneva agreement over Beijing’s export controls on rare earth minerals and associated products and US moves targeting China’s tech industry and its international students.
Following the Geneva talks, US officials had expected China to ease export restrictions of those minerals, which were imposed in retaliation against Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs on Chinese goods. The minerals are an essential part of everything from iPhones and electric vehicles to big-ticket weapons like F-35 fighter jets and missile systems.
But the restrictions haven’t been lifted, causing intense displeasure inside the Trump administration and prompting a recent series of measures imposed on China, three administration officials told CNN last week.
Beijing, meanwhile, has bristled as Washington warned to companies against using AI chips made by China’s national tech champion Huawei, moved to limit critical technology sales to China and announced that the US would “aggressively revoke visas” for Chinese students in the US with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
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