Trump says he has no plans to speak with Chinese president

President Trump said Tuesday he has no plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping as he announced new sanctions on Beijing amid spiraling relations between the two nations.

“No, I haven’t spoken to him,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question at the White House. “I have no plan to speak to him.”

The president didn’t say when he last spoke with the Chinese leader, and tensions have been heightened as Trump continues to criticize Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Hawaii last month for a summit with his Chinese counterpart amid worsening relations between Washington and Beijing.

Trump on Tuesday used his press conference to announce that he would be ending the U.S.’s special status for Hong Kong over Beijing’s implementation of a national security law that critics say is choking off the territory’s unique freedoms from mainland China.

The president is expected to be ending special privileges and economic treatment for Hong Kong and rescinding the territory’s exception to bans on the importing of sensitive technologies. 

He also signed into law bipartisan legislation that allows the U.S. government to sanction individuals and entities known to be involved in interfering in Hong Kong’s freedom.

The moves are likely to draw strong reaction from Beijing, which has condemned Washington’s recent efforts to label its claims in the South China Sea as illegal and has retaliated against U.S. visa restrictions on Chinese officials by banning U.S. senators and representatives.

Trump also signaled last week that the U.S. would likely not reach a “phase two” trade deal with China, and told CBS News on Tuesday that he is “not interested” in pursuing such a trade agreement right now.

“I’m not interested right now in talking to China,” Trump told the network.

“We made a great trade deal. But as soon as the deal was done, the ink wasn’t even dry, and they hit us with the plague,” he added, referring to the coronavirus.