United States President Donald Trump said on Monday that he expects to visit China this year or shortly afterwards, noting that economic ties between the two countries have improved — even as he kept the door open to steeper tariffs.

Speaking to reporters as he met South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Washington, Trump pointed to recent talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping: “At some point, probably during this year or shortly thereafter, we’ll go to China.

“We’re going to have a great relationship with China,” Trump vowed.

The US leader added: “They have some cards. We have incredible cards, but I don’t want to play those cards. If I played those cards, that would destroy China.”

Tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have been simmering this year, but have significantly cooled since April, when both countries slapped escalating tariffs on each other’s exports.

At one point, the tit-for-tat duties reached triple digits on both sides, snarling supply chains as many importers halted shipments to try and wait for the governments to work things out.

Since then, Washington and Beijing have reached an agreement to de-escalate tensions, temporarily lowering tariffs to 30 per cent on the United States’ side and 10pc on China’s part.

But Trump on Monday kept the door open to hiking tariffs again if China did not hold up its end of the bargain.

“They have to give us magnets,” Trump said. “If they don’t give us magnets, then we have to charge them [a] 200pc tariff or something.” “But we’re not going to have a problem, I don’t think, with that,” he added.

The US-China truce has been an uneasy one, with Washington previously accusing Beijing of violating their agreement and slow-walking export license approvals for rare earths.

China is the world’s leading producer of rare earths, used to make magnets essential to the automotive, electronics and defence industries. The countries have since agreed to move forward.

This month, they delayed the threatened reimposition of higher tariffs on each other’s exports for another 90 days — meaning the pause on steeper duties will be in place until November 10.

Trump says he wants to meet with North Korea’s Kim this year

Trump said, “I have a very good relationship. I understand them. I spent a lot of free time with them, talking about things that we probably aren’t supposed to talk about. And you know, I just, I get along with him really well. I think he has a country of great potential, tremendous potential.”

Asked if he wanted to meet with Kim this year or next year, Trump replied, “Well, I’m meeting a lot of people. I mean, it’s hard to say that, but I’d like to meet him this year.”

Trump, who met Kim Jong Un three times in his first term, hailed their relationship and said that he knew him “better than anybody, almost, other than his sister”.

“Someday I’ll see him. I look forward to seeing him. He was very good with me,” Trump told reporters earlier today.

Trump contended that North Korea has been firing fewer rockets since he returned to the White House on January 20.

He has boasted that he has solved seven wars in as many months back in the job — a claim that is contested — but has been quiet on North Korea despite the unusually personal diplomacy during his 2017-2021 tenure.

Trump once said that he and Kim “fell in love.” Their meetings reduced tensions but failed to produce a lasting agreement.

Since then, Kim has forged a close relationship with Russia, including sending troops to fight against Ukraine, and has dug in on refusing any dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program.

US will back Ukraine’s security, details being worked out, Trump says

The US president stated that he has not discussed specific security guarantees for Ukraine and reaffirmed the US commitment to support the country. The potential security guarantees for Ukraine represent a major obstacle to ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Trump also said that during his August 15 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the two leaders discussed limiting the size of their countries’ massive nuclear arsenal once the Ukraine crisis is resolved.

“We would like to denuclearise. It’s too much power, and we talked about that also. That’s part of it, but we have to get the war over with,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office.

Asked why Putin appears reluctant to sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump replied, “Because he doesn’t like him.”