U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his view on having to negotiate with Chinese President Xi Jinping, describing him as “extremely hard to make a deal with”.
Taking to his Truth Social account, the U.S. president made the statement relating to ongoing US-China trade tensions and an expected phone call this week.
“I like President Xi (Jinping) of China, always have, and always will, but he is very tough, and extremely hard to make a deal with,” Trump posted.
On May 30, 2025, Trump accused China of “totally violating” a trade agreement brokered in Geneva in mid-May.
The violation, according to Trump, pertains to China’s slow pace in issuing export licenses for critical minerals and rare earth magnets, essential for cutting-edge electronics.
“We haven’t seen the flow of some of those critical minerals as they were supposed to be doing,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stated.
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China’s response, via spokesman Liu Pengyu from the Chinese Embassy, urged the US to correct its actions and cease discriminatory restrictions, referencing the Geneva consensus.
U.S. responded by escalating tariffs to 145% on April 11, 2025, on Chinese goods.
Xi Jinping responded by raising tariffs on American goods, stating that he was maintaining national pride, suggesting negotiations on US terms would be politically damaging for him, adding to the difficulty in deal-making.
A phone call between the two leaders is expected later this week.
The hurdles in deal-making, as stated by Trump, may stem from both leaders’ need to project strength.
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In 2021, Xi Jinping had vowed to never allow a foreign nation to bully or oppress Chinese people.
“The Chinese people will never allow foreign forces to bully, oppress, or enslave us,” Xi said in a speech commemorating the centennial of the Communist Party in 2021.
“Whoever nurses delusions of doing that will crack their heads and spill blood on the Great Wall of steel.”
The Chinese Communist Party is characterizing Trump’s trade war as an American effort to contain and suppress China’s economic success; one the government is fully prepared to thwart.
Chinese exports to the U.S. totaled almost $440 billion in 2024 and are a major source of jobs. Those exports could fall by more than half if Trump’s tariffs stay in place, a blow China’s economy.
But China has leverage in this relationship, too. American companies and consumers rely on Chinese imports, like rare-earth metals, that Xi has already restricted exports of.
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