President Donald Trump early Wednesday, just days after accusing China of violating an agreement to roll back trade restrictions and tariffs, said on social media that Chinese President Xi Jinping is a "tough" negotiator.
"I like President Xi of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH," the president said in his post on Truth Social.
Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and Xi would speak this week, while they attempt to work out the differences on last month's tariff agreement in Geneva and other trade issues.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Tuesday, during his first meeting with U.S. Ambassador David Perdue, that the "negative measures" by Trump's administration have been based on "groundless reasons" that undermine the rights and interests of China, reports CNBC on Wednesday.
In a readout of their meeting, Chinese authorities quoted Perdue as saying that Trump has "great respect" for Xi.
The Chinese officials called on the United States to meet their nation "halfway" while returning relations to the "right track."
"This is apparently Beijing trying to leave the impression that the Trump [administration] wants to talk," Neo Wang, lead China economist and strategist at Evercore ISI, told CNBC. "Beijing publicly doing so indicates the phone call is drawing near."
The meeting between Perdue and Wang, he added, was planned to build trust for China "so that Xi doesn't get embarrassed by Trump after the call with words or actions."
Last week, a U.S. trade court ruled that Trump had overstepped his authority on most tariffs from China and other countries, but less than 24 hours later, the tariffs were reinstated by a federal appeals court, which said it paused the trade court ruling to consider the administration's appeal in the matter.
China had been Trump's main target for the tariffs announced on April 2, when he hit the rival nation with 145% levies on goods, triggering retaliatory tariffs of 125% from China on U.S. goods.
Both sides de-escalated in May when Trump delayed most measures on other countries until July 9.
However, he has raised tariffs from 25% to 50% on aluminum on steel.
The issue of the Trump tariffs is also under discussion in Europe this week after the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its global growth forecast after Trump's levies during meetings of the group ministers Tuesday and Wednesday, reports the AFP.
OECD Chief Economist Alvaro Pereira told AFP that the United States economy will suffer the most from Trump's moves on tariffs.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of the OECD gathering, with the EU hoping to push back against the higher tariffs before the July 9 deadline.
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used to compile this report.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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