cnn
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Donald Trump said he had a “very good” phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as the US president-elect prepares to return to the White House next week.
“Just spoke with President Xi Jinping of China,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “I hope we solve a lot of problems together and get started right away.”
Trump said they discussed trade, fentanyl, TikTok and other topics, and that the call was “very good” for both countries.
“President Xi and I will do everything we can to make the world more peaceful and secure!” he wrote.
In a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry, Xi said he and Trump “attach great importance to mutual interactions” and “hope for a good start to the China-U.S. relationship” during Trump’s second term.
The phone call, believed to be the first between the two since Trump left office after his first term, comes during a tense time in relations between Washington and Beijing.
Shortly after the call, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a controversial ban on TikTok can take effect on Sunday, rejecting an appeal by the popular app that claimed the ban violated the First Amendment.
Earlier, China’s Foreign Ministry said Xi would not attend Trump’s inauguration scheduled for Monday. Instead, Vice President Han Zheng will be at the ceremony in Washington as Xi’s special representative.
Xi sent Trump a congratulatory message after his reelection in November, telling him that the United States and China “win from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” and said he hoped the two countries could find a way “to get along.” .
In an interview with NBC after his re-election, Trump said he got along “very well” with Xi during his time in office.
But Trump’s rhetoric hasn’t always been so friendly. As a candidate, Trump promised to apply 60% tariffs on all products from China. As president-elect, he has tempered his claims and threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods by an additional 10% until Beijing stops the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
Members of Trump’s Cabinet include several prominent China hawks, including Marco Rubio, elected secretary of state and currently sanctioned by Beijing, and Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News host elected secretary of Defense, who has warned that China is hell-bent on defeating the United States and achieving global domination.
A complicating factor, however, is Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of electric vehicle giant Tesla, which makes more than half of its vehicles in China. Musk is often invited to meet with Chinese officials during his trips.
Echoing some of Beijing’s talking points, Musk has said in the past that the two countries can maintain a win-win relationship, in a clear break from Trump’s zero-sum attitude.
Despite pointing out the prospects for cooperation, Xi told Trump that it is “natural for two big countries with different national conditions to have some disagreements,” highlighting “the Taiwan question.”
Beijing has insisted that it considers Taiwan a separatist territory that must be “unified” with its mainland, and that it is willing to use force if necessary.
Trump was seen as a friend of Taiwan during his first term, but his rhetoric has hardened since then. During the election campaign, Trump claimed that autonomous democracy should pay the United States more for its “protection” and that he had “stolen” the US chip business.
CNN’s Nectar Gan and Steven Jiang contributed reporting.
