Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will speak this week to ease trade tensions

US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to have a phone conversation this week, the White House said on Monday. The crucial talks between the nations come days after Trump accused China of breaking a deal to reduce tariffs and trade restrictions.

White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that Trump and Xi will probably speak soon. She is the third top official to forecast a call between the two leaders in order to solve differences related to last month's tariff deal in Geneva and other trade issues.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CBS’s program "Face the Nation" on Sunday that Trump and Xi would talk "very soon" to settle trade disputes. These include disagreements over important minerals and China’s limits on exporting certain minerals.

Trump said on Friday that he was confident he would talk to Xi. However, China said in April that the two leaders had not spoken recently.

TRADE TALKS PROGRESSES

Last month, Scott Bessent led negotiations with China in Geneva, which led to a brief halt in the trade war between the world's two biggest economies. However, things have moved slowly since then. "There is still a lot of work to be done," Bessent told Fox News last week.

The US-China agreement paused high tariffs for 90 days. As a result, stock markets around the world saw a big rise. However, the deal did not address the primary causes of Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods. China's state-run economy and export-oriented business strategy have long been criticised by the US.

Meanwhile, a US trade court ruled last Wednesday that Trump went beyond his power when he put most of his tariffs on Chinese imports and other countries using emergency powers. However, a federal appeals court overturned that ruling the following day, keeping the tariffs in place while it reviews the case. The court requested responses from both parties by early June.

With inputs from Reuters