BUSAN, South Korea — U.S. President Donald Trump said he is confident China will play a role in helping end the war in Ukraine following his talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the South Korean city of Busan.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump said the Ukraine conflict featured prominently in his one-hour-forty-minute meeting with Xi, held on the sidelines of an international gathering in Busan.
“Ukraine came up very strongly. We talked about it for a long time, and we’re both going to work together to see if we can get something done,” Trump said. “President Xi is going to help us, and we’re going to work together on Ukraine.”
Trump described the discussion as “constructive” and said both leaders expressed interest in supporting efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
At the start of the meeting, Xi called for “steady and gradual” development in U.S.-China relations and said negotiators from both sides had reached “basic consensus” on addressing key trade and economic differences.
The Busan meeting marked the first in-person talks between the two leaders since their encounter at the 2019 G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have since been strained by tensions over trade, Taiwan, and technology, but both sides have recently signaled interest in dialogue.
Trump’s remarks suggest a possible opening for U.S.-China cooperation on one of the world’s most intractable conflicts — a potential diplomatic breakthrough amid stalled peace efforts in Ukraine.
