“Very Positive Conclusion” – Trump Confirms ‘Very Good Phone Call’ With Xi

Update (1045ET): Chinese media is confirming that Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President Donald Trump on Thursday to remove “negative” measures that have roiled trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies and agreed to more talks.

The Chinese leader said Beijing had complied with the terms of the trade agreement struck by the two nations last month in Geneva, according to a readout published by CCTV, even as US officials have complained that export controls on critical rare earths have not been lifted quickly enough.

Xi also said the countries should work to reduce misunderstandings and that Trump was welcome to visit China, according to the readout.

President Trump issued a readout of his own via TruthSocial: (emphasis ours)

I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal.

The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.

There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products.

Our respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined. We will be represented by Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer. During the conversation, President Xi graciously invited the First Lady and me to visit China, and I reciprocated.

As Presidents of two Great Nations, this is something that we both look forward to doing. The conversation was focused almost entirely on TRADE.

Nothing was discussed concerning Russia/Ukraine, or Iran. We will inform the Media as to scheduling and location of the soon to be meeting. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

S&P futures surged back towards their highs on the news…

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In keeping with China’s now default lying and obfuscation about anything trade war related, just hours after Bloomberg reported that according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry there was no information to share on a US President Trump/Chinese President Xi call, moments ago China’s state media Xinhua reported that the two world leaders had in fact just held a phone call, and engaged in discussions reflecting ongoing diplomatic communication amidst tensions.

Here are all the headlines on BBG and Reuters

XI, TRUMP HOLD PHONE TALKS: XINHUA
CHINESE STATE MEDIA REPORTS ON A CALL BETWEEN PRESIDENT TRUMP AND XI JINPING THE LEADERS ENGAGED IN DISCUSSIONS, REFLECTING ONGOING DIPLOMATIC COMMUNICATION AMIDST TENSIONS

Xinhua also said Xi had been invited by Trump to make the phone call.

The call came after Washington and Beijing traded accusations of breaching a deal reached just weeks ago in Geneva, where the world’s two biggest economies had agreed to dramatically cut mutual tariffs for 90 days, an outcome Trump dubbed a “total reset”.

It was their first phone call since the two countries started imposing fresh duties on each other’s goods in February.
The conversation has been widely seen on both sides as the highest political endorsement for de-escalating the trade war, which threatened to reshape global trade flows for the coming decades.

Tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have flared again in recent weeks.

The Trump administration had claimed that China had been slow to ease exports of rare earth elements, which are essential for a broad range of consumer and military technology that China holds a strategic grip over.

Trump said last week that Beijing had “totally violated” the Geneva agreement, while China responded by criticising Washington for implementing “discriminatory restrictions”.

The US issued guidance warning companies not to use Huawei’s Ascend artificial intelligence chips anywhere in the world last month, just one day after the conclusion of the Geneva deal.

Washington has since reportedly ordered several leading semiconductor design software companies to halt the sale of chip design software to China.

The US announced last week that it would “aggressively” revoke visas for Chinese students, a move poised to impact one of the largest international student demographics in the country.

Before the pause in Geneva, tit-for-tat levies saw US tariffs on Chinese imports rise as high as 145 per cent, with China retaliating with tariffs of up to 125 per cent on US goods.

And while we now await Trump to comment on his Truth Social account what all that was about, futures aren’t waiting and spoos quickly spiked above 6,000, rising as high as 6016 and on the verge of pushing the S&P into a bull market.