WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday that he will visit Beijing in April following a “very good” talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump said that his trade truce with Xi is holding — after the Chinese leader agreed on Oct. 29 to crack down on fentanyl smuggling, resume purchases of US soybeans and pause export restrictions on items made with rare-earth and critical minerals.
“I just had a very good telephone call with President Xi, of China,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“We discussed many topics including Ukraine/Russia, Fentanyl, Soybeans and other Farm Products, etc. We have done a good, and very important, deal for our Great Farmers — and it will only get better. Our relationship with China is extremely strong!” he wrote.
“This call was a follow up to our highly successful meeting in South Korea, three weeks ago. Since then, there has been significant progress on both sides in keeping our agreements current and accurate. Now we can set our sights on the big picture.”
Trump added: “To that end, President Xi invited me to visit Beijing in April, which I accepted, and I reciprocated where he will be my guest for a State Visit in the U.S. later in the year.”
Trump previously visited Beijing during his first term in November 2017 and after hosting Xi that April at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday afternoon that the primary focus of the call was trade, as opposed to pressuring Xi on the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Russia-Ukraine did come up, but the focus was mainly on the trade deal that we are working on with China,” she said.
Trump lowered tariffs on Chinese goods by 10% following his sit-down with Xi in South Korea, bringing the average duty on Chinese goods from 57.6% to 47.6% — slightly under the 50% rate currently applied to Brazil and India.
