Trump discusses trade and TikTok ban in phone call with Xi Jinping

Days ahead of his inauguration and amid vows to impose tariffs on America's biggest rival, US President-elect Donald Trump spoke with China's leader Xi Jinping in a phone call on Friday.

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, both leaders discussed trade, the drug fentanyl, and TikTok in a call on the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company.

“We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for a good start of the China-U.S. relationship during the new US presidency, and are willing to secure greater progress in China-U.S. relations from a new starting point,” Xi said, according to China's foreign ministry.

Beijing and Washington have remained locked in a tense economic competition since Trump’s first term, when relations shifted toward a more contentious rivalry.

Trump extended an unusual invitation to Xi in December, but hours before the Trump-Xi call, the Chinese foreign ministry announced that Vice President Han Zheng would attend Trump's swearing-in ceremony as Xi's special representative. No Chinese head of state has attended a US president's inauguration in the past.

Meanwhile, an eight-member delegation from Taiwan departed for the U.S. on Saturday to attend Trump's inauguration ceremony. The delegation said they were focusing on strengthening US-Taiwan relations.

"We represent the highest well wishes to President Trump and Vice President Vance from the 23 million people of Taiwan," Taiwan's legislative speaker, Han Kuo-yu, said before departing.

During the last four years, the US under Joe Biden has engaged in a measured approach over Taiwan as Washington sought to reassure Beijing and smoothen relations.

Relations had deteriorated following limits President Joe Biden imposed on the sale of advanced technology to China as well as high tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and solar cells.

For his part, Trump has criticised Taiwan for pulling some of the semiconductor industry from the US, but Taiwan's relations with Washington notably and significantly improved during his first term.

In 2016, Trump, as then president-elect, spoke with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on the telephone, a move that angered Beijing and broke with set US policy after formal relations were cut in 1979.

A statement from Friday's phone call from China's foreign ministry said Xi urged Trump to approach the Taiwan issue “with prudence” because it is about China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“Confrontation and conflict should not be an option for the two countries,” according to the statement.

The US is obligated by domestic law to provide Taiwan with sufficient hardware and technology to fend off any mainland invasion.

Beijing claims Taiwan, the self-governed island, as Chinese territory and vows to annex it by force if necessary.