Trump and Xi talk for first time

Sometimes, the shortest press releases generate the most headlines.  

Take Thursday’s press release from China’s state broadcaster: “Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday held phone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at the latter's request.” 

As you’d expect, given the feverish geopolitical climate of today, those 18 words were enough to trigger a visceral reaction in any US-China watcher. 

Here’s what you need to know about the Xi-Trump call. 

It lasted around 90 minutes, and was described by Trump as a “very good phone call”. This was the first direct contact between the two leaders since Donald Trump’s return to office, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry was quick to point out the call was organised at Trump’s request. 

What did they talk about? 

• Trade - Predictably, this was the top priority for both presidents. The two pledged to implement the trade truce they agreed to following talks in Geneva last month, with Xi exhorting Trump to remove the “negative measures” imposed on China. The two leaders also agreed to continue trade negotiations, with delegations to meet “shortly”

• Rare earth minerals - According to President Trump, the two cleared the air on China’s export curbs, stating “there should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products”, (we’re not entirely sure of what this means in practice) 

• Chinese students - Xi also brought up the issue of US student visas for Chinese nationals. Following the call, Trump told journalists it’s an “honour” to have Chinese students in the US

• Taiwan - The Chinese readout (🇨🇳) also mentions Xi warned the US of handling the issue of Taiwanese independence “prudently” to avoid it dragging the two powers “into a dangerous situation of conflict and confrontation”. 

And like any estranged friends, Xi and Trump ended the call promising to visit one another. 

Why is this important?

This call comes at a crucial juncture for China-US ties (and the whole world). Last week, the two biggest economies accused one another of breaching the terms of the Geneva trade consensus. All the while, European and US auto suppliers are sounding the alarm their supply chains will soon be hit if China doesn’t loosen its export curbs on rare earth minerals and magnets. 

The Xi-Trump call thus draws a line under their most recent spat, cooling down the inflammatory tones coming out of Beijing and DC. And while we’re no closer to a trade deal, we’re maybe a little further away from the edge.