But analysts say that Xi is less inclined to approach deals via a call. “Donald Trump’s way” of “pick [ing] up the phone … to resolve issues,” Pang Zhongying, a former visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, told the South China Morning Post in February, is not the “Chinese way.”

News of the call came as new data showed U.S. goods imports dropped significantly in April as sweeping tariffs rolled out.