Trump speaks with China’s Xi, says leaders will make world ‘more peaceful’

‘It is my anticipation that we volition lick galore problems together,’ the incoming US president says aft a telephone with Xi Jinping.

United States President-elect Donald Trump says helium had a “good” telephone telephone with Chinese President Xi Jinping, suggesting that Washington and Beijing volition enactment to resoluteness assorted issues going forward.

The telephone connected Friday came 3 days earlier Trump — who has pledged to enforce steep tariffs of up to 60 percent connected Chinese imports — returns to the White House.

Trump’s commercialized policies whitethorn deteriorate the already tense ties betwixt the US and China. High tariffs connected Chinese goods could rise prices for US consumers, harm China’s system and acceptable disconnected a commercialized warfare betwixt the 2 countries.

But the incoming US president expressed optimism astir the aboriginal of the narration with China.

“It is my anticipation that we volition lick galore problems together, and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and galore different subjects,” Trump wrote successful a societal media post.

“President Xi and I volition bash everything imaginable to marque the World much peaceful and safe.”

The US Congress passed a measure past twelvemonth to prohibition the video level TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese genitor company, citing perceived concerns astir privateness and contented manipulation.

But Trump aides person suggested that the president-elect is assessing options to prevention the fashionable level from the national ban.

Ties betwixt Beijing and Washington person soured implicit galore points of hostility successful caller years, including commercialized issues, the presumption of Taiwan, claims to the South China Sea and an ongoing US propulsion to curb Chinese power successful the Asia Pacific region.

During his archetypal term, Trump centred the contention with China successful his overseas policy, often complaining that Beijing’s commercialized policies were unfair.

Washington has a important commercialized shortage with Beijing. Last year, Chinese exports to the US totalled astir $401bn, portion its imports from the US amounted to $130bn.

Trump’s successor Joe Biden besides prioritised the contention with China and tried to deepen US ties with allies successful the Asia Pacific.

Over the past 2 years, the US has accused China of cyberattacks and flying a spy balloon implicit the country, allegations that Beijing has rejected.

In the astir caller US National Security Strategy — a papers produced each 4 years outlining the country’s planetary interests — the Biden medication called Beijing the “most consequential geopolitical challenge” for Washington.

It added that the US is “in the mediate of a strategical contention to signifier the aboriginal of the planetary order”.

Trump has appointed galore China hawks to his incoming administration, including naming Senator Marco Rubio — who is nether Chinese sanctions — to beryllium his caput of state, the apical US diplomat.

During a Senate confirmation proceeding earlier this week, Rubio called China the “biggest threat” to US prosperity.

“If we don’t alteration course, we are going to unrecorded successful [a] satellite wherever overmuch of what matters to america connected a regular ground from our information to our wellness volition beryllium babelike connected whether the Chinese let america to person it oregon not,” helium said.

Still, US and Chinese officials often accent that they are not seeking another Cold War.

“We presumption and grip China-US relations successful enactment with the principles of communal respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win practice enactment guardant by President Xi Jinping, and resolutely safeguard our ain sovereignty, security, and improvement interests,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters connected Thursday.