President Donald Trump held a phone call with China President Xi Jinping, Chinese media outlet Xinhua reported Thursday.
The call was initiated by Trump, Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a subsequent statement.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the report.
U.S. stock futures rose on news of the call.
Trump has reportedly been eager to speak with Xi, as strained trade relations between the two countries frayed further in the past week.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Dan Kitwoodnicholas Kamm | Afp | Getty Images
While Washington and Beijing temporarily lowered tariffs on each other’s goods following constructive talks in Switzerland last month, that tentative agreement has since come under threat.
The Trump administration has publicly accused Beijing of slow-walking its pledge to approve the export of more critical minerals, a result of the negotiations in Geneva.
China, meanwhile, has expressed deep frustration with a recent decision to impose new restrictions on Chinese student visas. It has also accused the Trump administration of undermining recent trade progress by issuing an industry warning against using Chinese semiconductors.
The Trump administration has also imposed additional export restrictions on chips. The White House claims the actions are required to protect national security, but Beijing views them as punitive.
The conversation was only the second time this year that the two leaders have held a one-on-one call. Trump and Xi previously spoke on Jan. 17, prior to the U.S. president’s inauguration.
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— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng and Christina Wilkie contributed to this report.
