WASHINGTON/BEIJING--China is considering buying more U.S.-farmed soybeans, President Donald Trump said after what he called "very positive" talks with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, even as Beijing warned Washington about arms sales to Taiwan.
In a goodwill gesture two months before Trump's expected visit to Beijing, Trump said Xi would consider hiking soybean purchases from the United States to 20 million metric tons in the current season, up from 12 million tons previously. Soybean futures rallied.
Hours after Xi's virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi and Trump discussed Taiwan and a wide range of trade and security issues that remain a source of tension between the world's two biggest economies. Both leaders publicly affirmed their personal stakes in strong relations after the call, their first since November.
Trump said on Truth Social that the call was "all very positive," that his relationship with Xi is "extremely good," and that "we both realize how important it is to keep it that way." An official Chinese government account said that Xi had said, "I attach great importance to Sino-U.S. relations."
Though Trump has tagged China as the reason for several hawkish policy steps from Canada to Greenland and Venezuela, he has eased policy toward Beijing in the past several months in key areas, from tariffs to advanced computer chips and drones. "Both sides are signalling that they want to preserve stability in the U.S.-China relationship," said Bonnie Glaser of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a think tank.
One area of tension is Taiwan policy. The United States announced its largest-ever arms sales deal with Taiwan in December, including $11.1 billion in weapons that could ostensibly be used to defend against a Chinese attack. Taiwan expects more such sales.
China views Taiwan as its own territory, a position Taipei rejects. The United States has formal diplomatic ties with China, but maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan and is the island's most important arms supplier. The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
"The United States must carefully handle arms sales to Taiwan," China said in an official meeting summary.
Investigations into senior military leaders in China have stirred concern about the implications for Chinese foreign policy. Trump downplayed the investigation into Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Zhang Youxia, saying over the weekend that "as far as I'm concerned, there's one boss in China," and "that's President Xi."
The last nuclear treaty between Russia and the United States is soon to expire, raising the risk of a new arms race in which China would also play a key role with its own growing nuclear stockpile. Trump has said that he wants China to be part of arms control.
Economic issues continue to be a flashpoint between the world's biggest consumer and its biggest factory. Trump has made tariffs on imports a pillar of his strategy to revive domestic manufacturing jobs. U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday unveiled plans for a preferential trade bloc of allies for critical minerals, part of an effort to eliminate leverage that China has over the United States because of its control of key metals.
The two sides are working to find areas of accord heading into an expected April state visit by Trump to Beijing. Trump and Xi last met in person in October in South Korea, where their current trade truce was struck. Soybeans are key because struggling U.S. farmers are a major domestic political constituency for Trump, and China is the top consumer. Overseas sales of U.S. soybeans this year slumped to the lowest in 14 years due to trade tensions with China. Benchmark Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures surged more than 3% to a two-month high.
