Trump said in his Truth Social post that the hour-and-a-half conversation phone call was “focused almost entirely on TRADE,” while the Chinese readout singled out Xi’s stern warning on Taiwan – the reddest of lines for Beijing – and the issue of Chinese student visas.

At the center of the latest trade storm between the U.S. and China is He Lifeng. Since He became vice premier in early 2023, China's leader Xi Jinping has essentially put him in charge of fortifying the nation’s economy against the effects of U.