President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their third and final meeting on Saturday, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Peru in the wake of the U.S. presidential election.
“The United States recently concluded its election,” Xi told Biden. “China's goal of stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relations remains unchanged.”
“China is ready to work with the new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation, manage differences, and strive for a steady transition in Sino-U.S. relations for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said. continued.
Their meeting comes as President-elect Trump, who has long spoken harshly toward China while occasionally expressing admiration for Xi's strength as a leader, is scheduled to return to the White House. I was disappointed.
He vowed to impose a 60% tariff on Chinese goods and a general tariff of 10% to 20% on all imported goods.
Chinese officials have previously told The Hill they don't want a trade war and stressed the importance of stabilizing global production and supply chains.
During President Trump's first term, trade policy included high tariffs on Chinese goods and renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
In his opening remarks, President Xi emphasized the importance of good U.S.-China relations.
“If our two countries treat each other as partners and friends, put aside their differences, seek common ground, and help each other succeed, our relationship will go a long way. But if we treat each other as rivals and adversaries, “If we consider this to be the case, pursue vicious competition, and seek to harm each other, we will disrupt or even set back our relations,” Xi said.
Biden's opening remarks also emphasized the partnership between China and the United States.
“We are the most important alliance, or the most important relationship in the whole world, and how we get along can affect the rest of the world. We can't let competition lead to conflict.'' That's our responsibility, and I think we've proven over the last four years that we can build this relationship,'' Biden said.
Xi rejected protectionism in a speech during the summit. Conversations surrounding APEC so far have largely focused on the escalating trade and security conflict between the United States and China.
Earlier this year, Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi called for a “check” following their pledges to take concrete steps to improve relations, including discussing Washington's support for Taiwan and Beijing's anger at China's support for Taiwan. We had a phone conversation as “In.” Russia's war against Ukraine.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
