U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone on Monday (November 24, 2025) to discuss trade, Taiwan and Ukraine, according to the White House and Chinese officials.

Mr. Xi told Mr. Trump in a phone call on Monday that Taiwan’s return to mainland China is “an important part of the post-war international order,” according to China’s official news agency Xinhua.

A White House official confirmed that the call happened on Monday morning but offered no details of the call.

The conversation came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently said Japan’s military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its rule.

Mr. Xi in the phone call said China and the U.S., which fought together during the war, should “jointly safeguard the victorious outcome of World War II.”

The two leaders also discussed trade, but the Chinese statement did not reveal any concrete agreements on matters such as purchases of American soybeans.

President Donald Trump says that Chinese President Xi Jinping has given him assurances that Beijing would take no action toward its long-stated goal of unifying Taiwan with mainland China while the Republican leader is in office.

Mr. Trump said that the long-contentious issue of Taiwan did not come up in his talks with Mr. Xi on Thursday in South Korea that largely focused on U.S.-China trade tensions. But the U.S. leader expressed certainty that China would not take action on Taiwan, while he’s in office.

“He has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘We would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Mr. Trump said in an excerpt of an interview with the CBS’ programme “60 Minutes” that aired on Sunday (November 2, 2025).

U.S. officials have long been concerned about the possibility of China using military force against Taiwan, the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.

The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed U.S. relations with the island, does not require the U.S. to step in militarily if China invades but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status by Beijing.

Asked if he would order U.S. forces to defend Taiwan if China attacked, Mr. Trump demurred. The United States, both Republican and Democratic administrations, have maintained a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan — trying not to tip their hands on whether the U.S. would come to the island’s aid in such a scenario.

“You’ll find out if it happens, and he understands the answer to that,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Xi.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not provide further details about when Mr. Xi or Chinese officials have conveyed to Mr. Trump that military action on Taiwan was off-the-table for the duration of the Republican’s presidency.

The “60 Minutes” interview was taped on Friday at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. It marked Mr. Trump’s first appearance on the show since he settled a lawsuit this summer with CBS News over the newsmagazine’s interview with Kamala Harris.

The rest of the interview is scheduled to air later on Sunday.