While the United States does not officially recognise Taiwan’s claim to statehood, Washington remains the island’s most important partner and arms supplier.
Trump praised “extremely strong” US-China relations in a social media post after the call, but made no mention of the contentious issue of Taiwan.
According to China’s foreign ministry, Trump told Xi during their discussion that the United States “understands how important the Taiwan question is to China”.
The US President’s statement also confirmed that he will visit China in April and that Xi will come to Washington later in 2026.
Trade talks momentum
Their call came after the pair met in late October for the first time since 2019, engaging in closely watched trade talks between the world’s top two economies.
The Washington-Beijing tussle, which encompasses everything from rare earths to soybeans and port fees, has rocked markets and gummed up supply chains for months.
A tentative deal reached in October’s meeting in South Korea saw Beijing agree to suspend for one year certain export restrictions on critical minerals.
China is hugely dominant in the mining and processing of rare earths, which are essential for sophisticated electronic components across a range of industries, including auto, electronics and defence.
Meanwhile, the United States said it will cut back tariffs on Chinese products, and Beijing will buy at least 12 million metric tonnes of American soybeans by the end of this year, and 25 million metric tonnes in 2026.
Xi told Trump on Monday that their two countries should “keep up the momentum”, according to the foreign ministry.
He added that the “successful” meeting in South Korea “recalibrated the course of the giant ship of China-US relations and provided more momentum for it to sail forward steadily”.
Since the meeting, China-US ties have “generally maintained a steady and positive trajectory, and this is welcomed by the two countries and the broader international community”, Xi said.
Trump struck a similarly optimistic tone in his statement.
“This call was a follow up to our highly successful meeting in South Korea, three weeks ago. Since then, there has been significant progress on both sides in keeping our agreements current and accurate. Now we can set our sights on the big picture,” he said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said Washington hoped to finalise a deal with Beijing for securing supplies of rare earths by the Thanksgiving holiday, which falls on Thursday (local time).
The two leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine – an issue high on Trump’s agenda as he pushes for an end to the war with a fresh deal that critics say largely satisfies Russian demands at the expense of Kyiv.
China has positioned itself as a neutral party and, in Monday’s call, Xi reiterated his backing to end the nearly four-year conflict.
“President Xi emphasised China’s support for all efforts that are conducive to peace, and expressed the hope that the various sides would narrow their differences, reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement at an early date, and resolve the crisis at its root,” China’s foreign ministry said.
-Agence France-Presse
