A potential trade breakthrough between the United States and China may hinge on whether U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping can reconcile their differing approaches to negotiation, said Mick Mulvaney, former acting White House Chief of Staff, on Tuesday.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the Nomura Investment Forum Asia in Singapore, Mulvaney highlighted what he called a “fundamental disconnect” in how the two leaders prefer to engage. “Trump wants to talk at the very highest levels. That’s not always how the Chinese want to do business,” he said.
The comment comes amid speculation about a likely phone call between the two leaders, as confirmed by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier this week. While no date has been officially set, the call is expected soon. It could help defuse tensions between the world’s two largest economies, particularly regarding access to semiconductors and rare earth materials.
Mulvaney, who also served as Trump’s budget director, noted that Trump favors direct, top-level dialogue both in business and politics. Xi, on the other hand, typically delegates detailed discussions to his advisers before engaging personally. “I do not see them being able to pull off a deal the old-fashioned way, which is going through the back channels,” he added. “And I think it’d be challenging to do a deal going the Trump way, which is only Xi to Trump man-to-man.”
Talks between the two nations had previously yielded a 90-day reprieve from harsher tariffs; however, new challenges have since emerged, particularly regarding access to technology and trade fairness.
Looking beyond negotiation styles, Mulvaney expressed hope for peaceful coexistence between the U.S. and China, provided that Beijing reforms its practices. “They can’t steal people’s intellectual property. They can’t force you into bad deals… They can’t hide information when they deal with pandemics, like they did with COVID-19,” he said. “China’s going to become a first-tier nation. They need to step up their game.”
China’s Foreign Ministry has not yet commented on the potential leader-to-leader call.
As trade and geopolitical tensions continue to simmer, the outcome of a possible Trump-Xi dialogue could set the tone for global economic relations in the months ahead.
