Trump calls China’s Xi Jinping ‘a tough negotiator’ ahead of meeting amid escalating trade tensions and fragile global markets
President Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping have begun what is expected to be three to four hours of high-stakes ,in-person talks in hopes of lowering the temperature of a simmering trade war that has threatened to boil over and upend the global economy.
The two leaders arrived within minutes of each other at South Korea’s Gimhae Air Base, a military facility on the edge of Gimhae International Airport in Busan, the second-largest city in South Korea.
Speaking during a brief media availability at the top of their summit, Trump said he and Xi would have “a very successful meeting” and called Xi “a very tough negotiator.”
“We have a great understanding. We have a great relationship, we’ve always had a great relationship,” Trump said.
A few minutes later during a second photo opportunity before the talks began, Trump said it was a “great honor” to be with Xi, who he called “a friend of mine” and “very distinguished and respected.”
“We will be having some discussions. I think we’ve already agreed to a lot of things, and we’ll agree to some more right now, but President Xi is a great leader of a great country, and I think we’re going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time,” Trump said.
Xi, speaking through a translator, said it was “a great pleasure” to meet with Trump and said he felt “very warm” seeing the American leader again “because it’s been many years.”
He noted that he and Trump had spoken three times and exchanged “several letters” since Trump’s return to the White House and said Sino-American relations had “remained stable on the whole” during that time.
“Given our different national conditions, we do not always see eye to eye with each other, and it is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then and in the face of winds, waves and challenges,” Xi said.
He added that he and Trump should “stay the right course and ensure the steady sailing forward of the giant ship of China-US relations,” and suggested that his vision for China’s continued development “goes hand in hand” with Trump’s “vision to make America great again.”
“Over the years, I have stated in public many times that China and the United States should be partners and friends. This is what history has taught us and what reality demands,” Xi continued.
He added later that he was “ready to continue working” with Trump to “build a solid foundation for China-US relations and create a sound atmosphere for the development of both countries.”
Trump, who traveled to the meeting site by helicopter, had referred to the long-awaited summit as the “G2” in a post on Truth Social shortly before Xi’s plane touched down.
He also claimed in a separate post that the United States would begin the process of resuming testing of its nuclear weapons stockpile “immediately,” citing Beijing’s efforts to expand its estimated 600 nuclear warheads to at least 1,000 by 2030. But when pressed to explain the social media post by reporters, he declined to do so.
