Trump finally gets his phone call with Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping

Donald Trump picked up the phone and called Xi Jinping on Thursday, and the Chinese president finally answered.

The conversation, reported by Xinhua and confirmed by Beijing’s foreign ministry, was initiated by Trump, who had been pushing for direct talks after weeks of rising trade tension between the US and China.

But details of the chat were not shared.

This was only their second call of the year, the first being on January 17, before Trump returned to the White House. In recent days, Washington has accused Beijing of dragging its feet on following through with trade promises, especially around critical mineral exports.

Those promises came from talks in Switzerland, where both sides had agreed to temporarily lower tariffs. But that deal started falling apart fast. Trump’s administration wasn’t seeing the deliveries it expected, and China wasn’t happy about the new waves of restrictions coming from Washington.

Trump pushes Xi on trade slowdown and new export blocks

During the call, Trump raised issues over China’s delay in exporting key minerals that were part of the post-Geneva understanding. He also brought up semiconductors, where his administration had just issued fresh export bans and advised US firms to avoid relying on Chinese chips.

The White House claimed the decision was for national security, but Beijing called it punishment disguised as protection. Adding fuel to the fire, China was already frustrated by a new rule tightening visa access for Chinese students, something it viewed as politically motivated.

Officials in Beijing said the US was “undermining recent progress” by targeting young people and education exchanges. Trump didn’t back down. The administration believes these moves are necessary to protect American strategic interests.

The economic impact of all this was already showing. On the day of the call, US stock futures climbed. The Dow went up 89 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures both gained 0.2%. Investors reacted quickly to any hint that the two countries were at least talking again, even if the problems weren’t solved.

Meanwhile, new numbers showed the US trade deficit had dropped to $61.6 billion in May, its lowest point since September 2023. That’s a $76.7 billion drop from April, and the fastest monthly decline since 1992.

Exports were up $8.3 billion, while imports had collapsed by $68.4 billion, a 16.3% slide. Companies had rushed to bring goods in ahead of Trump’s April 2 “liberation day” tariffs, knowing costs were about to go up.

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