U.S. President Donald Trump called China's Xi Jinping tough and "extremely hard to make a deal with" on Wednesday, exposing frictions after the White House raised expectations for a long-awaited phone call between the two leaders this week.

US President Donald Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping was “extremely hard to make a deal with” in a comment that comes as frictions rise between the two countries, weeks after they reached an agreement to de-escalate trade tensions.

It’s hard to know if Trump's comments on Xi Jinping suggest the world’s two biggest economies are getting any closer to a deal on tariffs.