President-elect Donald Trump has privately told advisers he wants to visit China in the first 100 days of his presidency, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Saturday's report came a day after Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the phone.
Trump visited Beijing in 2017, however aides told the Journal that no decision has been made for a trip in the coming months. Trump also has an interest in visiting India, according to the report.
The trip would come amid Trump’s vow to impose 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports during his administration. Trade came up in Trump’s call with Xi on Friday, too, he said.
“It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social.
Trump invited Xi to his inauguration on Monday but the Chinese president opted against it, sending Vice President Han Zheng instead. A trip to China would mark an extension of Trump’s belief in sitting down with foreign adversaries, as he did with Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in his first term.
“One of the things that President Trump did so effectively in his first four years is that he knows that if you want to change something with the country, whether it be an adversary or whether it be a rival, or in the case of China … you have to be able to talk to them and say, ‘This is what we want to do,’” Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN on Saturday.
“Does that mean that we’re going to be buddy-buddy? No, not at all. If anything, it means that President Trump can be tougher directly with them,” Miller added.
In his first week in office, Trump plans to tour the U.S. as he announces executive orders on energy, immigration and other issues. That includes a trip to Los Angeles to tour the damage caused by the recent wildfires, according to the Journal.