The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington DC and Beijing are discussing the possibility of holding a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, possibly in June.
The likelihood of a meeting comes at a somewhat complex time, with the U.S. federal administration about to increase tariffs on imports from China, a strategy that insiders say aims to create leverage for negotiations with Beijing.
The latest talks about a possible summit in the month when both leaders celebrate birthdays signal a willingness on both sides to improve their relationship amid trade tensions that have destabilized global markets and companies.
For its part, Beijing has a strong interest in engaging in new negotiations to stop, or at least slow, further tariff increases and technology restrictions by the United States. In early March, the White House imposed new tariffs on China, raising average tariffs on imports from the Asian country to 35 percent–a significant increase from 14.5 percent in 2023.
Other actions considered by the U.S. government include restricting Chinese investment in the U.S. and U.S. investment in China, and further restricting the sale of high-tech products to Chinese companies. To justify these decisions, the U.S. leader said that in recent years Beijing has done nothing to try to stop the fentanyl crisis.
At the moment, neither Chinese nor Washington DC officials have confirmed the rumors about the possible meeting between the two leaders. For Xi Jinping, the trip to the U.S. capital may involve some pitfalls. Indeed, his loyalists fear that once he crosses the threshold of the Oval Office, the Chinese president could be abruptly reprimanded live worldwide by Trump, as happened to Volodymyr Zelensky a few weeks ago.
For this reason, therefore, Chinese officials would be pushing for the MAGA leader to fly to Beijing.
White House advisers, for their part, said Trump is in no hurry to negotiate with Xi. Trump, who has repeatedly praised Xi, calling him a “good friend,” also continues to believe he can take measures such as tariffs while maintaining a good relationship with his Chinese “colleague.”
According to the WSJ, however, Beijing would be eager to negotiate with Trump’s team to avoid a superpower clash.
