BEIJING: United States President Donald Trump on Friday (May 15) said he hoped Washington’s relationship with China would be “stronger and better than ever before”, ahead of a second day of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Trump added in his Truth Social post that Xi had congratulated him on “so many tremendous successes”, including the US’ relationship with Venezuela, its job market as well as its military.
In his post, Trump also said that Xi had referred to the US as “perhaps being a declining nation”, but noted the Chinese President was pointing to the previous US administration under former President Joe Biden
“Two years ago, we were, in fact, a nation in decline. On that, I fully agree with President Xi!” said the US president.
Trump said: “But now, the United States is the hottest nation anywhere in the world, and hopefully our relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before!”
The two leaders are set to meet on Friday to wrap up a two-day state visit that has featured pomp and business deals but also a stark warning from Xi that mishandling the Taiwan issue could push US-China relations to “a very dangerous place”.
Trump is on the first visit by a US president to China, America’s main strategic and economic rival, since a 2017 visit during his first term, and has been hoping for tangible results that might improve his dented approval ratings ahead of crucial midterm elections.
The two leaders are scheduled to have tea and lunch before Trump flies back to the United States.
The summit has been aimed at maintaining a fragile trade truce struck when the leaders last met in October and Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Xi backed away from choking global supplies of vital rare earths.
Trump has also been expected to urge China to convince Iran to make a deal with Washington to end a war unpopular with American voters.
But he has travelled to Beijing with a weakened hand after US courts limited his ability to levy tariffs at will and as price rises driven by the Iran war have made him politically vulnerable at home.
A brief US summary of Thursday’s talks highlighted what the White House called the leaders’ shared desire to reopen the Strait of Hormuz waterway off Iran, through which a fifth of global supplies of oil and natural gas travel in normal times, and Xi’s apparent interest in buying American oil to reduce China’s dependence on Middle East supplies.
Trump told Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity that China had agreed to order 200 Boeing jets, its first purchase of US-made commercial jets in nearly a decade.
That total was much lower than markets were expecting. Media reports had suggested the planemaker was nearing a deal to sell 500 or more airplanes to China and Boeing shares fell more than 4 per cent after the comments were aired.