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US President Donald Trump said that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the situation in Iran on Wednesday in a wide-ranging phone call, as Washington continues to push Beijing and others to further isolate Tehran.
Trump shared that he and his Chinese counterpart also talked about a range of other critical issues related to the US-China relationship, including trade, Taiwan and his plans to visit Beijing in April.
“The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one, and we both realise how important it is to keep it that way,” Trump said in a social media posting about the call.
In a post-call briefing, the Chinese government said the two leaders discussed major summits their nations will host in the coming year that could present opportunities for them to meet. Beijing’s statement however made no mention of Trump’s expected April visit.
Trump and Xi discussed Iran as tensions between Washington and Tehran remain critically high over their bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month. The US president says he is still weighing taking military action against the Middle Eastern country.
Trump is also pressing Iran to make concessions on its nuclear programme, which his administration insists has been “obliterated” in targeted US aerial attacks during the 12-day war Israel launched on Tehran in June.
US and Iranian officials said they had agreed to hold negotiations in Oman on Friday. The talks were initially slated for Turkey, but shifted to the Gulf country at Iran’s insistence.
Trump announced last month that the US would charge a 25% tariff on any country that continues to do business with Iran. China is Iran’s biggest and most reliable trading partner.
Despite years of sanctions aimed at isolating Iran on the global stage and crippling its economy to prevent it from advancing its nuclear programme, Tehran still managed $125 billion (€106 billion) in trade in 2024, including $32 billion (€27.1 billion) with China.
The World Trade Organisation says Iran also had a $28 billion (€23.8 billion) trade balance with the United Arab Emirates, as well as $17 billion (€14.4 billion) with Turkey during the same year.
China also made clear to the United States during the call that it does not intend to step away from its long-term plans of reunification with Taiwan.
The Trump administration announced in December a massive arms package to the self-governing island which China regards as its own, valued at more than $10 billion (€8.48 billion), which included medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones.
The move continues to draw an angry response from China, which has warned the US to better handle the situation.
“Taiwan will never be allowed to separate from China,” the Chinese government statement said. “The US must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.”
Trump also announced in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that he and Xi Jinping also discussed the war in Ukraine, though did not go into detail.
Other discussed topics in the phone call, which Trump described as “excellent”, included Beijing’s purchase of US oil and gas, easing restrictions on purchasing of US agricultural products, namely soybeans and deliveries of heavy machinery, including airplane engines.
Additional sources • AP
