US President Donald Trump hopes US-China relationship ‘will be better than ever before’

Lallalit Srijandorn FXStreet

US President Donald Trump said that he hoped the relationship between the US and China would be "stronger and better than ever before" ahead of a second day of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

“They look forward to trade and doing business. It’s going to be totally reciprocal on our behalf,” said Trump in opening remarks during his meeting with Chinese leader.

Trump added in his Truth Social post that Xi had congratulated him on "so many tremendous successes," including the US' relationship with Venezuela, its job market as well as its military.

On Iran, Trump said that Xi offered help to resolve the conflict and pledged not to provide military equipment to Iran. Xi also wants to see the critical Strait of Hormuz reopened.

Market reaction

As of writing, the AUD/USD pair is up 0.01% on the day at 0.7220.

US-China Trade War FAQs

What does “trade war” mean?

Generally speaking, a trade war is an economic conflict between two or more countries due to extreme protectionism on one end. It implies the creation of trade barriers, such as tariffs, which result in counter-barriers, escalating import costs, and hence the cost of living.

What is the US-China trade war?

An economic conflict between the United States (US) and China began early in 2018, when President Donald Trump set trade barriers on China, claiming unfair commercial practices and intellectual property theft from the Asian giant. China took retaliatory action, imposing tariffs on multiple US goods, such as automobiles and soybeans. Tensions escalated until the two countries signed the US-China Phase One trade deal in January 2020. The agreement required structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime and pretended to restore stability and trust between the two nations. However, the Coronavirus pandemic took the focus out of the conflict. Yet, it is worth mentioning that President Joe Biden, who took office after Trump, kept tariffs in place and even added some additional levies.

Trade war 2.0

The return of Donald Trump to the White House as the 47th US President has sparked a fresh wave of tensions between the two countries. During the 2024 election campaign, Trump pledged to impose 60% tariffs on China once he returned to office, which he did on January 20, 2025. With Trump back, the US-China trade war is meant to resume where it was left, with tit-for-tat policies affecting the global economic landscape amid disruptions in global supply chains, resulting in a reduction in spending, particularly investment, and directly feeding into the Consumer Price Index inflation.

Author

Lallalit Srijandorn

FXStreet

Lallalit Srijandorn is a Parisian at heart. She has lived in France since 2019 and now becomes a digital entrepreneur based in Paris and Bangkok.

AUD/USD bounces off multi-month low, nears 0.6900

AUD/USD edges higher toward 0.6900 in the Asian session on Wednesday, recovering some of the previous day’s losses to its lowest level since March as the US Dollar stalls the hot US CPI-inspired rally amid hopes of a US-Iran peace deal. Meanwhile, hawkish comments from FOMC members have almost confirmed another December rate hike, which favors USD bulls and should cap the Aussie.

USD/JPY remains capped below 159.00 amid looming intervention risks

USD/JPY struggles to build on the previous day’s strong gains to a near one-month top as intervention risk supports the Japanese Yen while hopes of a US-Iran peace deal cap the safe-haven US Dollar. That keeps the pair's upside limited below 159.00, for now.

Gold: The $4,000 mark holds the downside, for now

Gold adds to Tuesday’s small pullback and remains close to the key $4,000 mark per troy ounce on Wednesday. The yellow metal’s continuation of the downward trend comes against the backdrop of a robust performance of the US Dollar, rising US Treasury yields across the board and rising bets of extra rate hikes by the Fed.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP struggle to find footing amid spot ETF outflows

Cryptocurrency prices are broadly consolidating near key lower support levels on Wednesday, led by Bitcoin, hovering around $74,000. Ethereum sits above $2,000 while its upside remains structurally capped. Ripple, meanwhile, holds delicately above $1.00.

Ten questions for China in 2027

2026 has been a year of slowing growth and increasing divergence within China's economy. We saw the gap between external and domestic demand, as well as between the new economy and the old economy, widen significantly. Here, we look ahead to the key questions facing China in 2027.

What the US CPI headline doesn’t tell you about inflation

Brent crude has fallen about a third since mid-October on hopes the Iran war is ending, but diesel, freight and fertiliser costs haven't followed. Those costs reach US consumer prices in stages through 2027 and could keep inflation high after gasoline gets cheaper.