US President Donald Trump thinks he could meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2025.
“Yeah, maybe, I mean, I wouldn't be against a summit with Xi Jinping“, he told Fox News, after being asked if he could meet with the Chinese leader in June 2025.
At the same time, Trump recalled that on April 2, the US will introduce tariffs, as a result of which “China will pay, other countries will pay“. “We have been kicked out of every country in the world, by friends and enemies. And April 2nd - I call it the liberation of America. We were that fat, stupid, naive country that let everyone kick us out, including our friends," he said.
A date has not yet been set for the meeting between the two leaders, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with Salem News Channel.
“I think that meeting will eventually happen. It's not scheduled yet. I think that time will come“, he said, responding to a question about a possible meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping.
Rubio was also asked to comment on the situation surrounding the Panama Canal. “One day we woke up and there was a Chinese presence all over the canal. Hong Kong-based companies controlled all the key ports on both sides of the canal,“ he said. "The president has made it clear that the Panama Canal cannot be a security for the Chinese because we built it and we intend to have influence over it," Rubio continued. "We didn't hand it over to the Chinese, we handed it over to Panama," he said.
Trump has repeatedly claimed, without providing evidence, that China controls the canal and has stressed the United States' desire to regain control of it. On January 20, in his inaugural address, he announced his intention to "take back" the Panama Canal. He had previously stressed that the 1999 handover of control is a "gesture of cooperation", not a concession to other countries.
On Monday, the US leader said that Chinese President Xi Jinping and other key Chinese officials would visit the United States in the near future.
Earlier, the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, citing its own sources, reported that the US and China were discussing a meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping and were working to hold it in April, although a date had not yet been set. The two leaders would like the other side to visit their country first to present it as a diplomatic triumph, the sources said, but initial discussions were about Trump visiting China.
The US president has said he wants to visit China within 100 days of taking office and a visit in April, if it happens, would fit that timeline. Trump also said he expects Xi Jinping to visit the United States, but did not name specific dates.
On March 10, The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States and China are discussing preparations for a possible meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping in June. According to it, negotiations for the "birthday summit" in June are still in the early stages, the meeting could be held in the United States, but so far the Chinese side has expressed great interest in holding the meeting in Beijing. Trump's birthday is June 14, the Chinese leader was born on June 15.