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Donald Trump held his first phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping since leaving the White House in 2021, with the two leaders discussing the fate of TikTok just before the Supreme Court upheld a law banning the app in the United States .
The conversation between the executives was the first in four years and took place just two days before the law took effect, forcing app stores to stop offering it to users.
“I just spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping. This call was very positive for both China and the United States,” Trump wrote Friday on his Truth social media platform. “We discussed balancing trade, Fentanyl, TikTok and many other topics. President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the world more peaceful and secure!
China’s Foreign Ministry said the two leaders agreed to “establish a strategic communication channel to stay in regular contact on major issues of common concern.”
While painting a positive picture of the call, the ministry said Xi warned Trump that the United States should approach the “Taiwan question” with “caution.”
Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has refused to rule out the use of force to occupy the island.
Trump’s new national security team has been in contact with Beijing, but the call between the Chinese leader and the new US president marks the first direct conversation between the men in four years.
The call comes three days before Trump’s inauguration in a ceremony attended by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. This is the first time that a senior Chinese official has attended an American inauguration.
The Financial Times reported last week that Xi would send an envoy to Washington after Trump invited the Chinese leader to attend the event.
Some Trump advisers hoped Beijing would send Cai Qi, a Politburo standing committee member who is very close to Xi and wields far more power than Han, who sometimes replaces Xi in ceremonial roles.
Washington and Beijing are waiting to see what kind of China policy Trump will unveil at the start of his administration. He has threatened to impose tariffs on imports from China and many other countries, but it is unclear whether he will do so to gain leverage in negotiations with Beijing or whether he will initiate negotiations on a possible trade agreement with China and will apply customs duties if the negotiations are successful. not successful.
The conversation comes two days before U.S. app stores are required to stop offering TikTok, the video-sharing app downloaded by more than 170 million Americans. The law – upheld by a Supreme Court ruling Friday morning – bans the app unless its Chinese owner ByteDance sells the platform.
Trump has expressed support for TikTok, raising questions about whether his administration will pursue companies that break the law.
Relations between the United States and China have sunk to their lowest level since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979 under the Biden administration on issues ranging from U.S. export controls to disputes over Taiwan.
Even though Biden and Xi have managed to partially stabilize their relations over the past year, the two countries remain at odds over a number of issues, including China’s support for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Trump has appointed several vocal China hawks to serve in his administration, including Mike Waltz as U.S. national security adviser and Marco Rubio as secretary of state.
Scott Bessent, the nominee for Treasury secretary, said this week that Trump would push China to buy more U.S. agricultural products, like corn and soybeans, which were part of a close trade deal he struck with China last time.
Bessent said Trump would also be aggressive in imposing export controls that would affect China. Beijing has frequently criticized the Biden administration for introducing strict export controls on chips and artificial intelligence-related technologies in an effort to slow the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army.
But China experts are closely watching whether some of the tech billionaires in Trump’s orbit, like Elon Musk, will try to convince the new president to take a less harsh stance on the issue.
Additional reporting by Joe Leahy in Beijing
