Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to the United States to hold a special meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump between April 6 to 7, Chinese foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday. This is the first official confirmation of the highly anticipated meeting amid media reports that the two powerful leaders may meet soon.

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The meeting will be held at Trump's Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida. The maiden meeting between Trump and Xi comes at a critical time when several pressing issues like North Korea, the South China Sea dispute and talks of a trade war are putting considerable strain on the bilateral relationship between both nations.

Responding to the question on trade war, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang urged both sides to work together "to make the cake of mutual interest bigger and not simply seek fairer distribution."    

Lu declined to give details about the highly-anticipated meeting. But both leaders are expected to put all the sensitive issues on the table.

Xi and Trump's first meeting comes barely weeks after Rex Tillerson paid his first visit to Asia as the U.S. Secretary of State earlier this month. His visit to Japan, South Korea, and China was dominated by the North Korea issue.

Trump's sets up rhetoric against China

Trump promised to launch a trade war against China during his politically charged campaign last year. He accused the world's second largest economy of indulging in currency manipulation and unfair trade practices like steel dumping that is hurting the domestic industry. In one of his rallies, the Republican leader claimed that China would behave properly under his presidency.

However, things became truly uncomfortable between Beijing and Washington after Trump chose to continue with his relentless attack even after winning the presidential election. Most political analysts expected Trump's rhetoric to take a more pragmatic shape post his election victory. But their prediction proved wrong, with the outspoken Republican leader latching on every sensitive issue like the South China Sea dispute and Taiwan to take a pot shot against Beijing.

Some normalcy was restored to the strained relationship after Trump made a courtesy call to Xi last month. During the call, Trump reportedly vowed to respect the "One China policy," which became a sticking point following his unexpected overtures towards Taiwan.  

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