|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
President Donald Trump says Chinese leader Xi Jinping has “more or less agreed” to speed up purchases of American goods, after the two leaders held what Beijing described as a “positive, friendly and constructive” phone call.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Tuesday evening, Trump said he urged Xi to buy more US products, especially farm goods. “I asked him, I would like you to buy it a little faster. I would like you to buy more. And he has more or less agreed to do that,” Trump said.
Read also:China overtakes U.S. as Germany’s top trading partner
Trump’s upbeat remarks come as both countries try to stabilise a trade relationship that has been strained for years. China announced last month that it would restart purchases of US soya beans and would pause planned restrictions on rare earth exports to the United States. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said China had committed to buying 12 million metric tonnes of US soya beans this year, although the Reuters news agency reports that actual purchases so far have been slower than expected.
According to figures from the US Department of Agriculture cited by Reuters, China has ordered nearly two million metric tonnes of American soya beans.
The phone call took place on Monday, just weeks after Trump and Xi met in South Korea, where they agreed on a broad outline for a future trade deal that is still being negotiated. China’s official Xinhua news agency reports that Xi told Trump the two countries “once fought side by side against fascism and militarism, and should now work together to safeguard the outcomes of World War Two”.
Read also:Trump: A rampaging bull in a China shop
According to Al Jazeera, Xi also repeated Beijing’s position on Taiwan, telling Trump that “Taiwan’s return to China is an integral part of the post war international order”. China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to bring the island under its control.
The United States opposes the use of force in the Taiwan Strait and maintains a domestic commitment to supply Taipei with defensive weapons. Trump has kept a position of strategic ambiguity on whether he would send US troops if conflict broke out, while his government has pressed Taiwan to increase its defence spending.
Trump did not mention Xi’s comments on Taiwan in his later post on Truth Social. Instead, he described the discussion as a “very good” call that covered issues including Ukraine, fentanyl and US farm products. “Our relationship with China is extremely strong,” he said. He added that both sides had made “significant progress” since their meeting in South Korea and said, “Now we can set our sights on the big picture.”
Read also:China pledges support for Nigeria’s fight against terrorism, rejects foreign interference
Trump said he had accepted an invitation from Xi to visit Beijing in April and had in turn invited the Chinese president for a state visit to the United States later in the year.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Washington initiated the call. Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning described the exchange as “positive, friendly and constructive” and said regular communication between the two leaders was “crucial for the stable development of China United States relations”.
