Donald Trump to soon speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping
Washington: The global politics is seeing a buzz since after Donald Trump was sworn in as the US President last month after a surprising victory in November 2024 elections. Among his promises was tariffs on nations he felt threaten ‘Make American Great Again (MAGA)’ dream. On Saturday, Donald Trump announced tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. Now, the US President is set to speak with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping soon setting stage for a big bilateral relation shake-up.
The US President will speak with Xi as soon as this week, Trump’s spokesperson said as the world watches amid a possible trade war between two largest economies, reported Reuters.
While announcing his sweeping tariffs, Trump ordered 10 per cent duties on all Chinese goods entering the US. He further said there could be a need for more such action, following which China said it would approach the World Trade Organization (WTO) to “defend its rights”.
“It’ll happen in the next couple of days,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Trump-Xi talks, which will be the first since Donald Trump took office on Jan 20.
Trump’s tariffs order on China will come into effect on Tuesday and Beijing is likely to retaliate with similar measures as the US president’s campaign during elections hinted at as high as 60% tariffs on Chinese goods.
The US said, reported Reuters, that China is the primary source of the precursor chemicals synthesized into fentanyl by drug cartels in Mexico. To this, China said it has taken significant steps to contain the same.
“China hopefully is going to stop sending us fentanyl, and if they’re not, the tariffs are going to go substantially higher,” Trump had said, adding “China will be dealt with”.
China’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, on Monday said that the Security Council meeting, scheduled to be held in two weeks, presents a “very good opportunity” for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to hold a dialogue amid the ongoing tensions.
