US President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have spoken through representatives and he believes the two leaders will get along.
“We’ve already talked. We’ve talked through their representatives,” Trump said in an interview with conservative host Hugh Heitt.
Trump, who takes office on January 20, described Xi as a strong and powerful man who is respected in China.
“And I think we’ll probably get along very well, I predict,” he said. “But you know, it’s got to be a two-way street,” Trump added, repeating the charge that China is “stealing” the U.S. economically.
Trump has invited Xi and other foreign leaders to his inauguration in Washington later this month, but experts say the Chinese leader is unlikely to attend.
Trump has appointed a number of anti-China hawks to key posts in his new administration, including Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state.
He also said he would impose additional tariffs of 10 percent on Chinese goods unless Beijing did more to stop the trade in the highly addictive drug fentanyl.
He threatened tariffs of more than 60 percent on Chinese goods while on the campaign trail.
