page_title: China–United States relations
section_title: Trump administration (2017–)
hierarchical_section_title: China–United States relations / The People's Republic of China and the United States of America / Trump administration (2017–)
caption_attribution_description: English: President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive in China | November 8, 2017 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
context_page_description: China–United States relations, also known as U.S.–Chinese relations, Chinese–U.S. relations, or Sino-American relations, refers to relations between China and the United States since the 18th century. The relationship between the two countries has been complex, and vary from positive to highly negative. After 1980 the economic ties grew rapidly. The relationship is of economic cooperation, hegemonic rivalry in the Pacific, and mutual suspicion over each other's intentions. Therefore, each nation has adopted a wary attitude regarding the other as a potential adversary but has meanwhile maintained an extremely strong economic partnership. It has been described by world leaders and academics as the world's most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century.
  As of 2019, the United States has the world's largest economy and China has the second largest although China has a larger GDP when measured by PPP. Historically, relations between the two countries have generally been stable with some periods of open conflict, most notably during the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
context_section_description: President-elect Donald Trump's telephone conversation with the president of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen on 2 December 2016 was the first such contact with Taiwan by an American president-elect or president since 1979. It provoked Beijing to lodge a diplomatic protest ("stern representations"). Trump went on to clarify his move by telling Fox News, "I fully understand the 'one China' policy, but I don't know why we have to be bound by a 'one China' policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade."
  On Trump's inauguration day, an official from the People's Liberation Army wrote on the official website that the US's military build-up in Asia, and its push to arm South Korea with the THAAD missile-defense system were provocative "hot spots getting closer to ignition" and that the chances of war had become "more real".
  On 23 January, speaking about China's claims to sovereignty over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said, "It's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country."
  On 4 January, on a visit to Japan, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis reaffirmed Washington's commitment under the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan to defending Japan, including the Senkaku Islands (the East China Sea) that are claimed by China.
  On 9 February, Trump spoke with China's leader Xi Jinping over the phone discussing a wide range of issues; Trump was said to have re-iterated the United States' commitment to the status quo 'one-China' policy.
  Paramount leader Xi Jinping reiterated before President Trump, in a telephone conversation held between the two men on 3 July 2017, that "China-US relations have made great progress in recent days, but they have also been affected by some negative factors." By "negative factors," Geng Shuang, a Chinese government spokesmen, explained in a televised briefing: "Under the pretext of navigational freedom, the American side once again sent military vessels into the Chinese territorial waters of Xisha (Paracel) Islands. It has violated Chinese and international law, infringed upon Chinese sovereignty, and disrupted order, peace and security of the relevant waters and put in jeopardy facilities and personnel on the relevant Chinese islands. It is a serious political and military provocation. The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to the relevant actions by the US."
  On 8 November 2017, President Trump visited Beijing as part of the Asian tour. The main theme of the meeting emphasized the issues regarding the de-nucleariziation on the Korean peninsula in addition to the stabilization of China–United States relations. President Trump reiterated the importance of trade development between the two countries and reaffirmed the American support for the One-China policy. However, according to the latest U.S. National Security Act from 18 December 2017, the ships of U.S. Navy can call at the ports of Taiwan. This fact breaks "One-China" law, consider the Chinese government. Chinese Ambassador to the US Lee Kexin said that "the day when any US warship will enter the port of Taiwan Kaohsiung, the CPLA forces will unite China".
  On 13 March 2018, the out-going US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, said: "Much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our future relationship with China, how shall we deal with one-another over the next fifty years, and ensure a period of prosperity for all of our peoples, free of conflict between two very powerful nations."
  China enforced punitive tariffs on 128 categories of American goods on April 1, 2018 in retaliation for the Trump Administration’s national-security levies on steel and aluminum imports the previous month. The Chinese Government's response is measured, affecting $3 billion in annual trade or about 2% of U.S. goods exports to China. By late September 2018
caption: President Trump arrives in China in November 2017
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