Wall Street Journal: Trump may visit China in his first 100 days in office

The Wall Street Journal reported that US President-elect Donald Trump may visit China within 100 days of taking office on January 20.
The Wall Street Journal quoted a source close to the US president-elect as saying, “Trump expressed his interest in visiting China in the first 100 days of his presidency”.
The source told the WSJ that the trip is driven by the Republican’s desire to strengthen relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which have been strained between Washington and Beijing during the presidency of outgoing President Joe Biden.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a final decision hasn’t been made regarding the trip at the beginning of the second term yet, and Trump’s transition team didn’t respond to a request for comment on the visit.
Last Friday, Jinping held a phone conversation with Trump, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
After the call, Trump said he discussed with the Chinese leader efforts to achieve peace and security, economic and trade affairs, as well as the TikTok social media platform.
He noted that the call was very useful and important for both China and the United States.
For its part, Chinese television reported that the two sides agreed to establish a strategic communication channel to communicate on issues of common interest between the two countries.
It’s noteworthy that during his first term, Trump visited China in 2017, nearly a year after he took office as US President.
Trump’s previous presidential term was marked by a trade war with Beijing, the latest of which was US threats to increase tariffs on imports of Chinese steel, aluminum and electric cars.
For its part, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed the need for Washington to choose dialogue rather than escalation in its relations with Beijing.