But analysts say that Xi is less inclined to approach deals via a call. “Donald Trump’s way” of “pick [ing] up the phone … to resolve issues,” Pang Zhongying, a former visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, told the South China Morning Post in February, is not the “Chinese way.”

"I like President Xi of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.