President Joe Biden pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping during a private meeting Saturday on the Republic of China’s unfair trade policies after President-elect Donald Trump made ceasing the country’s trade practices a key part of his winning platform.
The outgoing Biden, 81, emphasized how federal officials will take necessary actions to intercept any use of advanced technology that undermines national security of the United States or its allies, the White House said in a statement.
Biden met with Xi at the Chinese leader’s hotel for the third and final time of his presidency toward the end of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South America.
The private discussion came after Biden made a major flub in his public comments to Xi, calling the relationship between the two countries an “alliance,” before quickly correcting himself.
“We are the most important alliance – or the most important relationship in the entire world, and how we’re getting along together can impact the rest of the world,” Biden said, according to multiple outlets.
“And so our two countries can not let any of this competition veer into conflict. That’s our responsibility and over the last four years I think we’ve proven it’s possible to have this relationship.”
Xi appeared to signal concern that the Republican president-elect could create division between China’s relationship with the US when he takes back control of the White House, according to multiple outlets.
“China is ready to work with the new US administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-US relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said through an interpreter.
Trump, 78, has threatened to renew his tariff-driven trade war with China, which during his first term, was waged in an attempt to broker a new economic pact that would benefit American companies.
Now he’s calling for a universal tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports into the United States from all countries and an additional tariff of 60% on all imports from China.
Trump also has called for a global reparations conference on COVID-19 in which the Chinese government could be given a bill into the trillions for its role in the origins of the pandemic that killed more than 1 million Americans.
Trump last year also floated forcing China to pay $50 trillion in “reparations” for the virus, which parts of the US government, including the FBI, believe originated with a leak at a lab in Wuhan.
Behind closed doors, Biden and Xi discussed a range of contentious issues including the economy, cybersecurity, Taiwan, and Ukraine, for which Biden condemned North Korea for deploying thousands of military troops to Russia, according to the White House.
The two leaders also agreed to assess the risks of artificial intelligence, maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons, preserve an open line of communication, and decrease China’s fentanyl production.
An estimated 223,000 Americans died from the mostly China-sourced drug in Biden’s first three years in office and Republicans blasted him for not doing more earlier to halt the flow.
Biden and Xi started their day at the 21-nation summit in Lima, Peru, where dignitaries donned brown scarves, as part of the summit’s ritual in which world leaders wear traditional garments of the host country, for a photo op.
Biden was relegated to the back corner of the conference’s annual family photo as Xi enjoyed a front-and-center position next to Peru President Dina Boluarte.
The retiring president, who leaves office Jan. 20, is expected to arrive Sunday in Rio de Janeiro for the annual G-20 summit of leaders from the world’s most economically successful countries.
