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Xi Jinping seems to be in no rush to engage with President Trump, who has sent mixed signals about when a call might happen (or whether it already has).
Feb. 12, 2025, 2:58 a.m. ET
The leaders of the world’s two rival superpowers have plenty to talk about. But so far, it seems, they can’t agree on when they should speak, or even whether they already have.
Over the last 10 days or so, President Trump has sent conflicting messages about talking to China’s top leader, Xi Jinping. Mr. Trump said on Feb. 3 that they would have a call within “24 hours,” then reversed himself, saying he was in “no rush” to talk. More recently, when asked whether the two had spoken since he took office, Mr. Trump said that they had.
By contrast, Mr. Xi has said nothing about talking to Mr. Trump. And on Tuesday, China’s foreign ministry suggested that no such call had taken place since Mr. Trump’s return to the White House, apparently contradicting Mr. Trump’s claim, which he made during an interview with the Fox News host Bret Baier that aired this week.
Mr. Xi, it seems, is in no rush to engage, stalling progress on a number of thorny issues in the nations’ competition for global power. (Both sides say the leaders did speak on Jan. 17, before Mr. Trump’s inauguration.) Even as Mr. Trump has imposed tariffs aimed directly and indirectly at China, Mr. Xi has played it cool, preferring to be seen hosting foreign dignitaries at the opening of the Asian Winter Games in the icy northeastern Chinese city of Harbin.
The disconnect reflects, in part, how Mr. Xi is trying to show Mr. Trump and the Chinese people that he will not be intimidated by tariffs, analysts say. Mr. Xi does not want to be confused with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada or President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, both of whom quickly negotiated with Mr. Trump after he threatened to slap 25 percent tariffs on their nations’ exports to the United States.
Those leaders “caved to Trump and Trump claimed victory,” said Zhiqun Zhu, an expert in Chinese foreign policy at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. “Xi will not let that happen. It would reflect very, very badly on him domestically. I think the strategy is to wait and see what Trump can offer before taking a call.”
