WASHINGTON/BEIJING, Feb 4 (Reuters): China is considering buying more U.S.-farmed soybeans, President Donald Trump said after what he called "very positive" talks with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, even as Beijing warned Washington about arms sales to Taiwan.

In a goodwill gesture two months before Trump's expected visit to Beijing, Trump said Xi would consider hiking soybean purchases from the United States to 20 million metric tons in the current season, up from 12 million tons previously. Soybean futures rallied.

Hours after Xi's virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi and Trump discussed Taiwan and a wide range of trade and security issues that remain a source of tension between the world's two biggest economies. Both leaders publicly affirmed their personal stakes in strong relations after the call, their first since November.

Trump said on Truth Social that the call was "all very positive," that his relationship with Xi is "extremely good," and that "we both realize how important it is to keep it that way." An official Chinese government account said that Xi had said, "I attach great importance to Sino-U.S. relations."

Though Trump has tagged China as the reason for several hawkish policy steps from Canada to Greenland and Venezuela, he has eased policy toward Beijing in the past several months in key areas, from tariffs to advanced computer chips and drones.

"Both sides are signalling that they want to preserve stability in the U.S.-China relationship," said Bonnie Glaser of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a think tank.

Photo from Reuters