President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to speak this week, a senior White House official told CNBC on Monday.

The expected discussion follows a series of flare-ups between Washington and Beijing that threaten to derail a tentative trade agreement that the two economic superpowers reached just weeks earlier.

The two leaders could speak one-on-one "very soon," though probably not today, the official said on condition of anonymity.

U.S. market indexes opened lower on Monday morning, as investors responded to the increasingly confrontational tone of public messages between the U.S. and China.

Trade between the countries — who rely heavily on each others' business — was effectively crushed in April, when Trump ratcheted blanket tariffs on Chinese impor

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