Trump calls Xi Jinping – Is the storm passing?
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have spoken on the phone — for the first time since the start of the trade war.
The conversation took place on the evening of June 5 at the initiative of the U.S. President, according to China’s Xinhua news agency. Politico, citing its sources, reported that Trump was “obsessed” with arranging the call amid the ongoing trade confrontation with China.
Commentators today recall Trump’s previous remarks in which he said it was “extremely difficult” to reach an agreement with Xi Jinping. He did not elaborate on the reasons, but observers believe the challenge lies in Xi’s tough negotiating stance, his unwillingness to yield to Washington’s authority, and China’s strong geopolitical and economic position.
Trump described the call on his Truth Social platform as very positive: “I just had a very good telephone conversation with President Xi of China, discussing some of the finer details of our newly finalized and agreed-upon trade deal. The call lasted about an hour and a half and concluded very positively for both countries. There should no longer be any questions regarding the complexity of rare-earth elements. Our respective teams will meet soon at a location to be determined. The conversation was focused almost entirely on trade. There was no discussion of Russia/Ukraine or Iran.”
Indeed, the tone appears to have been friendly: President Xi invited Trump to visit China, and Trump extended a reciprocal invitation. Both sides agreed to hold trade and economic negotiations as soon as possible. Xi also urged the United States to handle the Taiwan issue with caution in order to avoid conflict.
This development came as a surprise to many. After all the rhetoric and mutual accusations exchanged between Washington and Beijing, few expected such a calm and seemingly amicable outcome — as though the sharp tensions of recent weeks had never existed.
To recap, the U.S.-China tariff war began on April 2 when Donald Trump announced new duties on imports from several countries, including China. Confident in its economic leverage, Beijing did not send negotiators to Washington, but instead imposed retaliatory tariffs on American imports. Enraged by this, Trump responded with long-term duties on Chinese goods — and the tit-for-tat escalated from there. Moreover, China warned other countries that if they sided with the U.S. against China in the trade war, countermeasures would follow.
The date for the new round of trade negotiations has yet to be set. However, it is known that the U.S. delegation will include Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer.
As Politico reported a day before the call, Trump had been actively seeking this conversation in hopes of stabilizing a fragile truce in the trade dispute. The U.S. President believed that direct contact with Xi could accelerate the renegotiation of trade agreements between the two countries — agreements valued at over $600 billion.
According to Politico's sources, Chinese officials were wary of Trump’s public diplomacy. In Beijing, officials were reportedly uneasy about his emotional statements and high-profile meetings with various world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. This, sources suggest, contributed to Xi’s earlier reluctance to engage in direct dialogue with Trump.
To smooth over this perception, on June 4, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had always had a “liking” for Xi but acknowledged that negotiating with the Chinese leader was “extremely difficult” due to his “very tough” character.
The phone call the following day significantly eased tensions. Rare-earth elements — now a top priority — were at the heart of the discussion. China is the world’s largest producer of these materials. Since March, it had also halted purchases of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG), dealing a blow to American exporters.
As Bloomberg previously reported, China has used rare-earth elements as a strategic tool in its trade war with the U.S., announcing new export restrictions in response to actions from the White House. Beijing tightened controls on the export of seven critical rare-earth metals — samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium. The new measures required government assessment of end users and usage before shipments could be approved. Bloomberg noted that the move could destabilize global supply chains for materials essential to high-tech products — from electric vehicles to military equipment.
The decision was particularly impactful because China dominates the global market for rare-earths. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China accounts for nearly 70 percent of global production. The U.S., in turn, is heavily reliant on these supplies. In previous years, Beijing imposed similar restrictions on other critical resources such as gallium, germanium, graphite, and antimony.
Following Thursday’s phone call, the situation now appears to be de-escalating. This outcome undoubtedly serves the interests of both sides — and of the global economy as a whole.
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