US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping talked on the phone on Friday, Chinese state TV CCTV and Xinhua news agency reported.
The call, initiated at around 8 am Washington time, was confirmed by a White House official as well as by Xinhua.
The two leaders are set to engage in talks on determining the future of TikTok in the US, and on continuing trade tensions. One of the most critical issues up for discussion is Beijing's ultimate approval of a framework deal agreed to earlier this week. Trump will take special interest in this because it will decide whether or not TikTok remains in the United States. Under a congressional directive, the app is set for shutdown to US users by January 2025 if its American assets are not divested by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Friday's phone call is the second Trump-Xi conversation since Trump's second term began in January. Before this year, Trump announced on June 5 that Xi had invited him to China. Trump stated that he too had invited the Chinese leader to come to the United States.
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