MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump admits receiving a “beautiful letter” from Chinese president Xi Jinping

“He just wrote me a beautiful letter. I’ve just received it and I’ll probably speak to him by phone,” Mr Trump said

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had received a “beautiful letter” from Chinese President Xi Jinping, as negotiations on a trade deal between the two countries continue in Washington.

“He just wrote me a beautiful letter. I’ve just received it and I’ll probably speak to him by phone,” Mr Trump said. Later, he quoted Mr Xi as saying in the letter: “Let’s work together, let’s see if we can get something done.”

Mr Trump said he believed it was possible to reach a deal this week, as negotiators prepare to meet again on Thursday in Washington to end a trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies. 

The US Trade Representative’s office announced that tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods would increase to 25% from 10% at 12.01am Friday, right in the middle of two days of meetings with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He.

President Trump has accused China of reneging on commitments it had made so far in the talks. “We’re getting very close to a deal then they started to renegotiate the deal. We can’t have that. We can’t have that,” he said.