White House says Trump 'likely' to speak with China's Xi this week
WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- U.S. President Donald Trump is "likely" to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week, the White House said Monday, amid renewed trade tensions between the two countries.
The prospect for such talks, mentioned to reporters by White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, comes after China hit back at the United States over alleged violations of a temporary bilateral trade agreement reached in mid-May in Geneva.
China's Commerce Ministry on Monday released a statement saying Trump's accusation last week that Beijing had violated the agreement is "groundless" and "grossly distorts the facts."
The ministry also criticized the Trump administration for introducing "discriminatory measures" against China, including issuing guidance on export controls of artificial intelligence chips and revoking visas for Chinese students studying in the United States.
Such comments were made after Trump lashed out at China on Friday for "totally" violating the agreement reached in high-level talks in the Swiss city, under which the two countries committed to backing away from their respective triple-digit tariffs and trade restrictions.
In a social media post, Trump said, "I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation...Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual."
"China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US," he said.
The U.S.-China declaration of a 90-day truce in their trade war was seen as a major de-escalation. But the recent exchange of barbs between Washington and Beijing signals that their ongoing trade talks have hit a hitch.
While Trump did not clearly identify China's alleged violation, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other U.S. officials have noted that Beijing is withholding critical minerals it agreed to release in the agreement.
Critical minerals, such as rare earths, are key materials used in high-tech products. Bessent told a CBS program on Sunday that he was "confident" Trump and Xi would iron out differences in a conversation expected to happen "very soon."
Trump and Xi have yet to hold any confirmed conversations since the U.S. president took office in January for a nonconsecutive second term, although he and the White House have said multiple times that a phone call was imminent.
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