Trump, Xi to talk this week about trade, key advisor says
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President Trump and President Xi in China in 2017. Photo: Thomas Peter-Pool/Getty Images)
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to talk this week about the ongoing trade negotiations between the world's largest economies, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said Sunday,
Why it matters: It would mark a major advance in the increasingly turbulent trade relationship between the countries, and is a step that U.S. officials have suggested was necessary for progress.
Catch up quick: On Friday President Trump said on Truth Social that China had "totally violated" the tariff pause agreement the two countries reached in mid-May, raising fears the detente could be all but dead.
- Later that evening, he doubled steel tariffs.
Between the lines: That pause deal with China contributed directly to a rebound in consumer confidence, CEO confidence and the stock market.
What they're saying: "President Trump, we expect, is going to have a wonderful conversation about the trade negotiations this week with President Xi, that's our expectation," Hassett said on ABC's This Week.
- Hassett said nothing was firmly scheduled yet, but the expectation was the call would happen.
- The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in an interview on CBS's Face the Nation, would not go quite as far as Hassett, but he said "I believe we will see something very soon."
The intrigue: Bessent said the Chinese were withholding exports for some products that were part of the May trade deal.
- "Maybe it's a glitch in the Chinese system, maybe it's intentional, we'll see after the president speaks with the party chairman," he said.
- Axios' Marc Caputo reported Saturday that a State Department plan to cancel Chinese students' visas was a reaction to China withholding exports of rare earth minerals crucial to high-tech manufacturing.
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in a Fox News Sunday appearance, said "the right way to say it is they're just slow-rolling the deal."
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional comments.
