Jason Lee/Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the need for cooperation between China and the U.S. in a phone call with President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday night. The conversation came after Trump spent much of the presidential campaign talking big about how he’d hit China with a 45 percent tariff on imported goods and take on Beijing for currency manipulations. Xi, apparently unfazed, told Trump that cooperation between the two countries was the only choice, according to Chinese state television. “The two sides must strengthen coordination, promote the two countries’ economic development and global economic growth, expand all areas of exchange and cooperation, ensure the two countries’ people obtain more tangible benefits, and push for better development going forward in China-U.S. relations,” Xi was cited as saying by Reuters. Trump reportedly responded by telling Xi he was open to cooperation and that the two sides can “definitely achieve greater development.” The state-run Global Times newspaper additionally warned Trump that should he begin such trade wars with China, “A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. U.S. auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and U.S. soybean and maize imports will be halted. China can also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the U.S.”