President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping haven't had a one-on-one call since March, but that could change before the end of the month.
While speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews Wednesday, after delivering a climate change-related speech in Massachusetts, Biden said he'll likely "be talking to President Xi within the next 10 days."
Biden's Wednesday acknowledgment coincides with his media tease from last month, when the president hinted he'd communicate "soon" with Xi after his committed obligations overseas: the recent G-7 Summit in Germany and the controversial trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia.
During his time in office, former President Donald Trump prioritized negotiating hard-line trade deals with a number of powerful countries, including China.
The renegotiated tariffs were sought to improve America's balance sheet, as Trump routinely lamented how the U.S. had a trade deficit of $500 billion with China.
Only time will tell if Biden rolls back the Trump-era tariffs with China.
In previous months, Biden has publicly wondered about lifting the tariffs on Chinese goods, as a means of easing inflation — a concept that reportedly prompted pushback from American labor unions.
For separate reasons, tensions could be palpable between Biden and Xi if and when the two leaders converse.
For his trip to Asia during May, Biden publicly pledged his support for Taiwan, if China hypothetically invaded the region.
The United States officially recognizes Taiwan's sovereignty from China.
And while Biden was in Japan, Russian and Chinese warplanes conducted joint-patrol training sessions in the same area near Tokyo — a 13-hour airborne exercise that Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi characterized as a "likely provocation" by both Moscow and Beijing.
During that tense situation, Japan and South Korea reportedly scrambled to assemble its respective warplane fleets, while reporting at least four Chinese and four Russian warplanes entered Japan's air defense zone.
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