Trump, China's Xi discussed trade deal in long-awaited call
President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the phone Thursday amid trade tensions between the two countries -- and during the call, Trump said Xi invited him to visit China.
In a social media post, Trump said they discussed "some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal." The call lasted about one and a half hours, and the leaders exclusively talked trade.
Trump added that it "resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries." He said that U.S. and Chinese negotiating teams "will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined."
The president said that Xi invited him to visit China and Trump extended an invitation for Xi to visit the U.S.
"So, I will be going there with the first lady at a certain point, and he'll be coming here hopefully with the first lady of China," Trump later told reporters in the Oval Office.
The call happened at Trump's request, Chinese State News Agency Xinhua had reported.
It was the first confirmed time the leaders have spoken since Trump returned to the White House. Trump has alluded to a previous call with Xi, but he nor the White House have ever confirmed if that took place since he took office in January.
Their conversation is a significant development amid a trade standoff between the U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies.
It came after Trump last week accused China of violating a deal negotiated by top officials in Geneva last month to roll back high tariff rates for 90 days. The agreement saw the U.S. drop the rate on Chinese goods coming to the U.S. from over 145% to 30%. China lowered its levy on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%.
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said China was slow-walking approval of export licenses for rare earth materials, which was also a part of the Geneva agreement.
Beijing pushed back on Monday, saying it "firmly rejects unreasonable accusations" and that it was the U.S. that "unilaterally provoked new economic and trade frictions."
Chinese leaders said they had their own concerns about U.S. restrictions on tech exports and the Trump administration's attempt to revoke Chinese student visas.
Trump on Thursday, following his call with Xi, told reporters he believed they "straightened out any complexity" regarding the agreement.
"I think we're in very good shape with China and the trade deal," Trump said. "We have a trade deal with China, as you know, but we were straightening out some of the points having to do mostly with rare earths, magnets and some other things."
Trump also said it was "no problem" to have Chinese students come the U.S., despite the administration announcement it would "aggressively" revoke the visas.
"It's an honor to have them, frankly," he said, before turning his attention to Harvard University. The administration has demanded information on all the school's international students, including names and coursework.
"Look, we want to have -- we want to have foreign students, but we want them to be checked," Trump said. "You know, in the case of Harvard and Columbia and others, all we want to do is see their list. There is no problem with that."
