China reject Trump claim on Chinese calling the United States
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday said that China has not spoken to US President Donald Trump on the phone recently, emphasising that no talks are taking place between the two countries to resolve their tariff war.
This was announced in a statement from the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejecting Trump’s claim in an interview with Time magazine last week, saying that Xi had called him, as the world’s two largest economies remain locked in a dispute over sky-high trade levies.
“As far as I know, there has been no recent phone call between the two heads of state,” Guo Jiakun told a regular news conference. “I want to reiterate that China and the United States leader, Trump are not engaged in consultations or negotiations on the tariff issue.”
According to publicly available records, the last time the two leaders spoke by phone was on January 17, days before Trump’s inauguration for his second term.
Since last week, President Trump has repeatedly referred to Xi as a friend and said that his administration is talking with Chinese officials to strike a trade deal which was all denied by the Chinese government.
Trump last week softened his tone on China tariffs, saying that the astronomical US tariffs on Chinese goods will come down substantially and promised to be very nice at the negotiating table as he attempts to get Xi to initiate talks.
“He’s called. And I don’t think that’s a sign of weakness on his behalf,” Trump said, referring to Xi, in the Time interview published on Friday.
However, President Trump did not specify in the Time interview, the call with the Chinese leader or when it took place.
Trump Tariff on China
Since last week, President Trump has repeatedly referred to Xi as a friend and said that his administration is talking with Chinese officials to strike a trade deal which was all denied by the Chinese government.
On Friday, hours before Trump’s interview with Time was published, China’s Foreign Ministry urged the US not to mislead the public on trade negotiations between the two sides.
Trump’s apparent willingness to deescalate the trade war has been brushed off by Beijing, which has instead demanded the US remove all tariffs on China.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has imposed levies of 145% on Chinese goods, though he exempted imports of electronics such as smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs.
China in retaliation also raised tariffs on US imports to 125%, but it has also quietly rolled back the levies on some semiconductors made in the United States, according to import agencies, as Beijing tries to soften the blow of the trade war on its all-important tech industry.
