United States President Donald Trump has said his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is tough and “extremely hard to make a deal with”, days after he accused China of violating an agreement to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions.

For months, President Donald Trump has suggested his personal relationship with China’s Xi Jinping will be what unlocks the world’s most consequential trade dispute. Yet he hasn’t been able to get Xi on the phone — until,

Since Trump returned to the presidency, he has slapped sweeping tariffs on most US trading partners, with especially high rates on Chinese imports. New tit-for-tat levies on both sides reached three d