The statement was made by Mr. Trump in a post on the social network Truth Social on June 4, amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing after temporarily suspending tariffs in May.
I like President Xi Jinping of China, I always like him and I will always like him, but he is very tough and it is very difficult to reach a deal, Trump wrote.
This raises doubts about the sustainability of the temporary economic agreement between the world's two largest economies.
In response to this reaction, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lam Kien said that Beijing's stance on developing China-US relations remains consistent. Meanwhile, the White House has not made any official comments on Mr. Trump's statement.
Bilateral tensions are escalating on many fronts. The Trump administration has recently banned exports of key components for rocket engines to China, limited access to chip design software, and sought to impose further restrictions on Huawei's chips. At the same time, the US also announced plans to revoke visas of some Chinese students.
President Trump said he hopes to hold a phone call with Xi Jinping soon, after accusing China of violating a partial agreement reached in Geneva on tariff cuts. However, Beijing has not yet confirmed the high-level dialogue plan. The White House still affirmed that the two leaders are likely to discuss this week.
A key disagreement is the issue of important minerals. The US side believes that China has not removed the restrictions on rare earth magnetism as committed in Geneva. China, in turn, accused the US of unilaterally imposing discriminatory measures and threatened to retaliate if Washington continued to be tough.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly stressed that only a direct dialogue with Mr. Xi Jinping can resolve the difference, but Beijing prioritizes negotiations through consultants.
Although Mr. Trump has said he is ready to call or even go to China to meet Mr. Xi Jinping, no plan has been finalized yet.
