China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday spoke with his US counterpart Donald Trump on phone, reported Reuters citing Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
The areas of discussion, as reportedly previously, may have been the operation of popular Chinese app TikTok in the US and the trade tussle between the two powerful economies. The call was the second since Trump impose huge tariffs on imports from China, and several other countries. However, the US President, on multiple occasions, expressed interest in negotiating a deal to do business with the Asian country.
A framework for the operations of TikTok in the US was likely the part of the discussion, as earlier reported. There has been no formal announcement on what the deals could be, but Trump’s recent interview with Fox News suggested that all depends on how Xi responds.
“It sounds like they’ve approved TikTok, and TikTok is a tremendous amount of money for the United States so that was nice, but we’ll see how that all works,” the US president added.
The conversation was firs since June when they engaged in a standoff over trade troubles over restrictions including key industries – like semiconductors and rare earths.
This also includes argument over the future of chipmaker Nvidia Corp.’s access to China, which is at present being hampered by US export controls.
The two leaders’ call began around 8 am Washington time, the Associated Press cited a White House official and China’s Xinhua News Agency. The call may lead to an in person meeting between the two leaders, especially since Trump began imposing tariffs on China and almost all countries, especially the BRICS.
On Thursday, in a social media post, Trump said, “I’m speaking with President Xi, as you know, on Friday, having to do with TikTok and also trade. And we’re very close to deals on all of it.”
US-China ties and Trump’s ‘tariff’ push against China
The talks also come just days after Trump pushed NATO countries to levy heavy trade tariffs on Beijing for continuing to do business with Russia and buying oil from it. This is the very reason why Trump penalised India by imposing 25% additional tariffs on imports.
In his statement, Trump had told NATO nations that Russia’s war in Ukraine could end if European countries put higher tariffs on China. However, he did not specify if he was planning to raise tariffs on China over its purchase of Moscow’s oil, as he has done with India.
The TikTok deal
The US and China did reach a framework deal on TikTok’s ownership, said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent following the trade meet with his Chinese counterpart earlier this week. He, however, added that the deal will be finalised only by Xi and Trump.
Trump, who previously credited the app with helping him win another term, extended a deadline several times for the app to be spun off from its Chinese parent company ByteDance. This is a must for the Chinese app to keep operating in the US, the AP report added.
China-US trade issues
Top Chinese and US officials have held around four rounds of trade talks between May and September, and both have paused sky-high tariffs and pulled back from harsh export controls. Yet, these are not permanent measures and need prompt resolution.
While Trump “will likely seek to make it appear that the United States has the upper hand in trade negotiations,” said Ali Wyne, senior research and advocacy adviser on US-China issues at the International Crisis Group. China’s Xi “will likely seek to underscore the country’s economic leverage and warn that continued progress in bilateral relations will hinge on an easing of US tariffs, sanctions and export controls,” Wyne added, quoted AP.