President Trump, whose trade war with China has rattled financial markets and threatened to disrupt huge swaths of trade, suggested on Friday that he had been in touch with Xi Jinping, China’s president, even as Chinese officials insisted that no negotiations were occurring.
In an interview with Time on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said Mr. Xi had called him, though he declined to say when, and asserted that his team was in active talks with China on a trade deal. Asked about the interview outside the White House on Friday morning, the president reiterated that he had spoken with the Chinese president “numerous times,” but he refused to answer when pressed on whether any call had happened after he imposed tariffs this month.
Mr. Trump’s comments appeared aimed at creating the impression of progress with China to soothe jittery financial markets, which have fallen amid signs that the world’s largest economies are in a standoff. The S&P 500 is down 10 percent since Mr. Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
But the president’s claims of talks have been rejected by Chinese officials, who have repeatedly denied this week that they are actively negotiating with the United States.
“China and the U.S. have not held consultations or negotiations on the issue of tariffs,” Guo Jiakun, the spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said in a news conference on Friday. “The United States should not confuse the public.”
Chinese officials have repeatedly said the United States should stop threatening China and engage in dialogue on the basis of equality and respect. On Thursday, He Yadong, a spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry, said there were “no economic and trade negotiations between China and the United States.”
“Any claims about progress in China-U.S. economic and trade negotiations are baseless rumors without factual evidence,” he said. The Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment on Friday, and White House spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports to a minimum of 145 percent this month, in a bid to force China into trade negotiations. But Chinese officials responded by issuing their own tariffs on American products and clamping down on exports to the United States of minerals and magnets that are necessary for many industries, including the defense sector.
The Chinese also appear to have ignored Mr. Trump’s suggestions that the best way to resolve the issue would be for Mr. Xi to get in touch with him directly. With the two governments at an impasse, businesses that rely on sourcing products from China — varying from hardware stores to toymakers — have been thrown into turmoil. The triple-digit tariff rates have forced many to halt shipments entirely.
Trump officials have admitted that the status quo with China on trade is not sustainable, and some have considered paring back U.S. levies on the country. But the White House insists it will not do that unless a deal is reached for China to do the same.
Asked in the Time interview if he would call Mr. Xi if the Chinese leader did not call first, Mr. Trump said no.
“We’re meeting with China,” he said. “We’re doing fine with everybody.”
Mr. Trump also said, without evidence, that he had “made 200 deals.” He claimed that he would finish and announce them in the next three to four weeks.
Mr. Trump announced higher “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly 60 countries at the beginning of April. The White House has since said it received requests from dozens of countries to negotiate trade terms, and Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser, has said the administration would strike “90 deals in 90 days.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said this week that the Trump administration had received 18 proposals on paper and that the trade team was “meeting with 34 countries this week alone.”
But many trade experts have expressed skepticism, given that past U.S. trade deals have taken on average over a year to negotiate.
The president told Time that trade with countries like China had been unfair and needed to be changed. “You can’t let them make a trillion dollars from us,” he said.
Mr. Trump said he would look individually at companies seeking exemptions from tariffs. He also said he had a list of products that would be fine to import. “There are some products I really don’t want to make here,” he said.
But Mr. Trump insisted that tariffs were encouraging companies to move back to the United States, and that he would consider having high tariffs a year from now “a total victory” because the country would be “making a fortune.”
“This is a tremendous success,” he said. “You just don’t know it yet.”
In public, Mr. Trump has been saying that his tariffs are working out well, that countries are coming to him begging for deals and that everything will work out beautifully for the American people.
In private, the president’s team has been less cheery. Major retailers have briefed Mr. Trump on their expectations for empty store shelves if his tariffs are kept in place. His top economic advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, were so alarmed by the sell-off in the bond markets, and the potential for a widespread financial panic, that they urged Mr. Trump to put a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs two weeks ago.
Since then, his team has focused on how to de-escalate his trade war with China without appearing to have capitulated.
Mr. Trump and some of his advisers believed that the Chinese economy would be highly vulnerable to U.S. tariffs, given the country’s dependence on exporting to the United States. But they appear to have misunderstood the extent of the president’s leverage over Mr. Xi.
Chinese officials have made clear, through their statements to the news media, that they have not appreciated the bullying tone from Mr. Trump and that any negotiations need to be run through a formal process.
Beijing has also carefully censored and curated information in China about the trade war, and emphasized the country’s resilience and ability to withstand pain.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has seen his poll numbers drop. His approval rating on the economy — always a strength for him — has now become a weakness. Republican lawmakers fear a wipeout in the 2026 midterms, compounding the pressure on Mr. Trump to make deals that will restore a sense of economic well-being.
Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University and the former head of the China division for the International Monetary Fund, said both countries seemed to recognize the need to begin negotiations but each wanted to initiate them on their own terms.
“The narrative in Beijing seems to have shifted in recent days, with policymakers there stiffening their backs and feeling that they can ride this out,” he said. “Their perception seems to be that the Trump team will come to them as the U.S. economy is suffering proportionately more damage from the escalating trade war.”
