Trump Talks With Chinese President Xi About Trade

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping spoke on the phone this morning, in an effort to smooth out simmering trade tensions.

Trump reportedly initiated the call to help clear the air over a trade spat between the two countries, which reignited in the past week. Despite reaching a temporary trade agreement in mid-May, the two countries have accused the other of ignoring or undermining the deal in recent days.

The temporary agreement reduced mutual tariffs of more than 100%, which economists said effectively banned trade between the two countries. The pause was designed to allow longer-term negotiations, which had seemed to have stalled out before the call on Thursday.

The call “resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social after the call. He said the two countries agreed to a second meeting to discuss a long-term trade deal further, and details would be released “soon.”

The leaders have until August 12 to come to a longer-term deal. At that time, the U.S. tariffs of 145% on Chinese goods will be reinstated, and Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods are expected to rise back to their previous level of 125%.

Before the call, Trump and officials in his administration accused China of violating the agreement by not removing some of the countermeasures put in place when the two countries were ratcheting up a trade war that peaked in March.

In response, China claimed the U.S. was working to “seriously undermine” the deal by introducing new trade barriers, such as issuing new export control guidelines for AI chips.

U.S. officials were particularly concerned that China was restricting the flow of rare earth metals, of which they are the primary producer. These metals are often used in automotive, electronic, defense and energy manufacturing.

“There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products,” Trump wrote in his post, but did not elaborate.

Update, June 5, 2025: This article has been updated to include comments from President Donald Trump made in a social media post.