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Donald Trump has said China’s President Xi Jinping would soon visit the US, within the strongest signal yet of a possible summit between the superpowers at a time after they are locked in a deepening trade war.
Speaking during a visit to Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, Trump said that the Chinese leader could be “coming within the not too distant future”.
The White House didn’t reply to requests for comment about whether Washington and Beijing had begun talks a few summit. The Chinese embassy within the US also didn’t reply to a request for comment.
One person conversant in the situation poured cold water on the notion that a visit by Xi would occur soon, saying there had been no discussions about such a gathering.
A summit would mark a big diplomatic step for the geopolitical rivals and will give multinational firms and investors insight into how tough a stance Trump intends to tackle relations with China.
Trump has already launched a fresh trade war with Beijing — following the battle in his first term — by imposing a 20 per cent tariff on imports from China. Beijing retaliated by slapping tariffs on roughly $22bn in US goods, aimed toward America’s farming sector.
China has not issued public remarks a few meeting between the 2 leaders since Trump took office in January. Trump invited Xi to attend his inauguration, but Beijing sent vice-president Han Zheng in his place.
Trump met Xi several times during his first term, including a high-profile visit to Beijing. Their first meeting was on the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2017, just months after Trump took office.
Christopher Johnson, a former top CIA China analyst, said a visit early in Trump’s term could be “a coup” for the US leader. But he said Xi was unlikely to agree unless there was a secret bilateral channel that gave him confidence to risk a visit.
“Xi’s every instinct is militating against a visit too soon. He concluded his early visit to Mar-a-Lago in Trump’s first term was a mistake,” said Johnson, who heads China Strategies Group, a consultancy.
Johnson said it was dangerous because Xi doesn’t know the end result of the China-related trade study that Trump has ordered to be complete by April 1. “He seems content for now to let Trump run up the tariffs with no clear off-ramp to show him that China shouldn’t be Canada, Mexico or Panama,” he said.
Xi is predicted to satisfy dozens of chief executives from the US and other countries next week following the China Development Forum, a high-profile event where executives can engage with top Chinese officials.
Steve Daines, a Montana Republican senator who’s near Trump, will attend the Beijing forum, in a rare move by a US politician that he hopes will result in a gathering with Xi on behalf of the American president.
The Financial Times last week reported that Daines desired to be designated as a presidential envoy to facilitate a gathering with Xi — which the senator’s office denied.
