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US President-elect Donald Trump invited President Xi Jinping to his inauguration in January, an early sign that he intends to resume the high-level engagement with the Chinese leader that characterized his first term.
Carolyn Leavitt, the new White House press secretary, told Fox News on Thursday that Trump wants to create an “open dialogue” with countries that have been America's adversaries, not just allies and partners.
We saw that in his first term. He received a lot of criticism for this, but it led to peace around this world. “He is willing to talk to anyone, and he will always put America's interests first,” Levitt said.
Levitt said it would be “to be determined” whether Xi would accept the invitation. The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The call comes as Beijing prepares to escalate the trade war that Trump launched against China in 2018. The US president-elect has already He threatened to impose He imposed a 60 percent tariff on imports from China, representing a significant increase from the duties he imposed on the country's goods in his first term.
Trump will take office as relations between the United States and China remain close to their worst since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1979.
The United States is concerned about Chinese military activity around Taiwan and coercive activity toward countries like the Philippines in the Indo-Pacific region. China, in turn, accuses the United States of interfering in its internal affairs regarding Taiwan, and is angered by American export controls aimed at making it difficult for the Chinese military to use American technology for modernization.
Trump has also selected several very hawkish officials to serve in senior national security positions. He said he would nominate Senator Marco Rubio, one of the most vocal China hawks in Congress, for secretary of state, and intends to appoint Mike Waltz, a Florida congressman and former Green Beret, as White House national security adviser.
Trump had a complicated relationship with China during his first term. He courted Xi in 2017 before launching a trade war the following year. But he took a hard line on economic and security issues in 2020 as he blamed Beijing for the Covid-19 pandemic, which emerged from Wuhan.
Chinese officials in recent months have been desperately trying to determine what Trump wants to achieve in his dealings with China, and whether he wants to push for some sort of agreement with Xi, including on trade. Several people close to the Trump team said they expect the next president to take a tough approach on trade early in his administration to force China to the negotiating table.
