Trump Moves to Preserve Xi Truce While Reassuring Ally Japan

US President Donald Trump held back-to-back calls with the leaders of China and Japan, as escalating tensions over Taiwan threaten to derail his weeks-old trade truce with Beijing.

Trump’s hour-long conversation with President Xi Jinping on Monday marked their first contact since Japan’s new prime minister enraged Beijing by suggesting her nation’s troops could be drawn into a Taiwan crisis. Xi told his US counterpart Taiwan’s return to China was an “integral part of the postwar international order,” in a call the Chinese Foreign Ministry later said was “initiated by the US.”