Trump alluded to a visit to XI. China always wonders what it wants.

President Trump has fueled new speculations this week about a meeting with the senior Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, when he told journalists that Washington had to be cleaned to prepare for a summit between the two chefs in the not too distant future.

Mr. Trump has provided no details and China has not said anything publicly on such a meeting. The challenges of a visit would be high: President Trump imposed prices of 20% at Chinas expeditions to the United States and could order another round next month. China wants to try to trigger new climbing in the trade war that would put its efforts to relaunch the besieged economy of countries, according to experts.

But before any summit can take place, China still needs answers to two urgent questions: what does Trump want? Who can Beijing talk to Washington that Trump could listen to?

To try to answer these questions, China sent academics to the United States to participate in unofficial diplomatic talks last month with Trump administration officials and US foreign policy experts. China fears that Beijing officials have treated in the State Department and that the National Security Council, which is outside Mr. Trumps Inner Circle, does not send it their messages, said certain scholars.

We speak through the diplomatic chain. This is the normal canal. But can that reach President Trump? Do these people we really talked about really know what President Trump thinks? said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, who was among the researchers.

China has also publicly reported its interest in talks. The Chinese Minister of Commerce said earlier this month that he had written a letter to the US trade secretary and the US trade representative inviting them to meet. And Chinese officials describing Beijing's efforts to reduce fentanyl production last week urged the United States to resume dialogue.

Mr. Trump and Mr. XI held a telephone call a few days before the inauguration of Mr. Tumps in January, but high-level communication between China and the United States has been limited since. The best diplomat in Chinas, Wang Yi, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke at the end of January, and the Deputy Prime Minister, He Lifeng, spoke to the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the end of last month.

Beijing wants to know what Mr. Trump wants from China in a potential trade agreement as well as how he could react China's wishes list. China probably wants Mr. Trump to raise the prices; loosen restrictions on exports of American technologies and Chinese investments in the United States; And make sure that it will not cause Beijing on Taiwan, the autonomous island claimed by China.

At the same time, China has tried to stand firm against the Trump administration. Beijing responded to prices with countermeasures such as samples from American agricultural imports which are calibrated to demand a certain pain, but also leave the door open for future commercial negotiations. A Chinese official said Beijing would fight until the end in a tariff war, a trade war or any other war with the United States.

But China also thinks that a high -level meeting must take place before Mr. Trump has the opportunity to impose more prices on Chinese products, analysts said. Such a decision would increase tensions between the two parties to the point where Mr. Xi looked weak to agree to come to the table.

The challenge is, can we move quickly enough before the opportunity window is closed? Mr. Da said. When you see these negative signals sent without any positive program to compensate them, he continued, then bilateral relations could derive.

China can see the lack of urgency on the American side for high -level talks as reflecting an effort by Mr. Rubio and Mr. Trumps, the national security advisor Michael Waltz, in Stonewall China. (Both are considered hawk on China.)

Rubio is not in a mood to do anything in terms of talks because he considers China as a threat, said Wang Dong, executive director of the Institute of Cooperation and Global Count to the University of Peking.

Next month will be essential for American-Chinese relations, according to analysts. Trump can impose a third cycle of prices on Chinese products unless there are serious interviews between senior officials, Wu Xinbo, the dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said who also attended channel talks in the United States last month.

My impression is that at present, there is no substantial contact, and even less negotiations between the two governments, said Wu.

Trumps Blunt-Force is approaching diplomacy, so to speak, is a challenge for Chinas officials. The American leader has shown a desire to use economic coercion and strong arms tactics, even on his country allies. He considers the unpredictability of being his signature weapon. Chinese officials often focus on the protocol, maintaining control and ironing details before the summits to avoid surprises or his his his his his his his his hismoons.

Trumps comments on Monday a visit from Mr. Xi to Washington was probably more an indication of Mr. Trumps' interest in a meeting with the Chinese chief rather than the reflection of any summit which is really in preparation, said Evan Medeiros, professor of Asian studies at the University of Georgetown who was adviser in Asia of President Barack Obama.

China is likely to want Mr. Trump to come to Beijing, rather than making Mr. Xi travel to the United States, proud, said Medeiros.

Trump officials seem to be concerned about the fact that Mr. Trump's first decision to hire Chinese or visit Beijing to reward China before the officials made measures for the benefit of the United States and could lock up the United States in a cycle of stretched and unproductive negotiations that characterized the previous administrations. US officials may also want to put a firmer program around such a meeting, to prevent Trump from concluding an agreement with Mr. XI which could compromise American interests, analysts said.

In the absence of official meetings between governments, other figures intensify to present themselves as emissaries. Senator Steve Daines of Montana, who will visit China this week to attend a sales forum, said on Tuesday on Fox News that he would speak with Chinese leaders what they could do about fentanyl. He would also discuss purchases by China more American aircraft, beef, wheat and other products. China did not comment on any meeting with Mr. Daines.

The most difficult question for China is what agreement, if necessary, can be concluded between countries. Trump administration officials may want China to buy more in the United States, but the challenge is that America does not have much to sell, from the Chinas point of view, Yun Sun, Chinese program director at the Stimson Center in Washington, said.

The United States refuses to sell high-tech products to China, and some officials consider Chinese investment as a threat. China has said that any agreement would only be acceptable if it was in accordance with the principles of the market, which means that the United States cannot simply sell Chinese products at a much higher price to achieve a goal.

For the moment, Trump could wait for his time to create a lever effect in a future negotiation with China, said Ms. Sun, dealing with other business partners while leaving the Chinese stew in their own juice at the same time.

Ana Swanson Contribution of Washington reports.