President Donald Trump said Monday (October 20, 2025) that the U.S. commands “great respect” from Beijing and that he will reach a “fantastic deal” with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two leaders meet soon.

Mr. Trump’s remarks come after Beijing infuriated him by expanding export controls on rare earth products that are used in smartphones, fighter jets, electric vehicles and more. Mr. Trump spoke as he hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House, celebrating an agreement with the U.S. ally as a potential counterpoint to China’s near-monopoly in processing those critical minerals.

“I think we’re going to end up having a fantastic deal with China,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s going to be a great trade deal. It’s going to be fantastic for both countries, and it’s going to be fantastic for the entire world.”

When asked about China’s leverage, Mr. Trump said Beijing “threatened us with rare earths, and I threatened them with tariffs.” But he insisted his good relationship with Mr. Xi means they would work out ”a very fair deal.”

All eyes are on a potential meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi because any failure to reach some agreement raises the risk of destabilizing not only relations between the two superpowers but also the global economy.

Mr. Trump affirmed that he would meet with Mr. Xi this month on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, a grouping of 21 economies. Beijing has not announced plans for Mr. Xi to make the trip to South Korea, but it’s not unusual for such details to emerge closer to the travel date.

The President has threatened to impose a new 100% tariff on China in response to Beijing’s expanded rules on rare earth products. And he said Monday that it has already had results.

“Now, they’re treating us with great respect,” Mr. Trump said. “Now, we’ll see what happens. I said, if we don’t make a deal, I’m putting on an additional 100% on November 1. I think we’ll make a deal.”

Since returning to the White House, Mr. Trump has levied additional 30% across-the-board tariffs on China. Mr. Trump said the total rate on Chinese goods is about 55% to 57% and the country has paid the U.S. “hundreds of billions of dollars worth of money for tariffs.”

Beijing, however, has indicated it would play hardball.

“Threatening high tariffs is not the right way to deal with China,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said last week in response to Trump’s new tariffs threat.

At the meeting with Albanese, Trump said he has other options to use against China: “They can’t get parts for their airplanes. We build their airplanes.”

Still, he said he prefers reaching a deal. “I want to be good to China. I love my relationship with President Xi,” Mr. Trump said.

Meanwhile, Li Chenggang has been ousted as China’s top trade negotiator after co-leading the last four rounds of talks with the U.S. In a routine, bullet-style announcement of removals and appointments, Beijing said Monday that Li was removed from his post as China’s permanent representative to the World Trade Organization. No reason was given.

He was replaced by Li Yongjie, deputy international trade representative, who recently held trade talks with Ecuador.

The announcement coincided with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s recent criticisms of Li Chenggang. At a press conference last week, Bessent made a rare public airing of displeasure, saying Li “showed up here with very incendiary language on August 28,” has “gone rogue” and was “very disrespectful.”

“He showed up uninvited in Washington and said, quote, China will cause global chaos if the port shipping fees go through,” Mr. Bessent said, referring to the U.S. plan to charge port fees on China-linked vessels.

Late last week, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng had a video call with Mr. Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The sides held a “candid, in-depth and constructive exchange” and agreed to hold a new round of trade talks as soon as possible, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.

Mr. Bessent said last week that he and his Chinese counterpart would likely meet in Malaysia soon to prepare for a leaders summit.

Published – October 21, 2025 04:27 am IST

Washington:

US President Donald Trump, affirmed hope of having a “very good relationship” with China under his administration, while also stressing the need to have a “level-playing field” regarding the trade situation.

Virtually addressing the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Trump said, “He (Xi Jinping) called me. But I see it very good. I think that we are going to have a very good relationship,” Trump said, noting that the US has been facing significant trade deficits with China, a situation he attributed to former President Biden’s policies.”

Calling the relationship “unfair”, Trump said the US doesn’t want to take any advantage but wants fairness.

He also criticised the Biden administration for allowing the trade deficit to go “out of hand”.

“It is just an unfair relationship. We have to make it just fair…All we want is fairness. We just want a level playing field. We don’t want to take advantage. We have been having massive deficits with China. Biden allowed it to get out of hand…It is just an unfair relationship. We have to make it just fair. We don’t have to make it phenomenal, we have to make it a fair relationship. Right now, it’s not a fair relationship,” he said.

Trump pointed out that the US has been running large deficits with many countries, particularly in Asia, and stressed the need to address these imbalances.

“The deficit is massive as it is with other countries, a lot of Asian countries. But we have deficits that are very big and we can’t keep doing that. So, we are not going to keep doing that,” he said.

Despite these trade issues, Trump expressed his personal admiration for President Xi, describing their relationship as generally positive, even during strained moments, such as the outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan.

“I like President Xi very much, I have always liked him. We always had a very good relationship,” Trump said.

“It was very strained with Covid coming out of Wuhan…But we always had a great relationship, we look forward to doing very well with China and getting along with China. Hopefully, China can help us stop the war with, in particular, Russia-Ukraine. They have a great deal of power over that situation,” he added.

Notably, the WEF summit, underway in Davos, Switzerland, from January 20 to 24, serves as a platform to deliberate on pressing global challenges, economic transformations, and sustainability goals.

Earlier, just days before his swearing-in, Trump held a telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping and discussed a range of issues including trade, fentanyl, and TikTok.

Stressing the expectation that the two global leaders will “solve many problems together,” the then President-elect said they would do “everything possible” to make the world “more peaceful and safe”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)