Trump praises his friendship with Xi Jinping.

"He works for China, and I work for America, but we love each other. We've been through a very difficult period, but now things are better than ever," U.S. President Donald Trump said of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland today.

Trump's comments came nearly a week after the signing of the phase one trade agreement between Washington and Beijing at the White House on January 15. Under the agreement, China agreed to purchase an additional $200 billion worth of US goods and services, while also strengthening intellectual property protection and maintaining the stability of the yuan. In return, the US agreed not to impose new tariffs on Chinese goods and to reduce some existing ones.

"Before I was elected, China's theft was undermining trade, but nobody did anything, making things worse. Under my leadership, America has confronted this problem," Trump said, adding that the phase two deal would enter negotiations "very quickly."

However, immediately after the signing of the phase one agreement, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He stated that starting a new round of negotiations immediately would be "imprudent," adding that both sides should focus on implementing the terms of the signed agreement.

The White House occupant has repeatedly praised his friendship with the Chinese President, such as when he tweeted in April 2018 that "Xi and I will always be friends." Meanwhile, Xi rarely publicly expresses personal feelings about Trump, although he did call the US President "my friend" at an economic forum in Russia last year.

However, the relationship between the two leaders appears to have cooled after trade negotiations stalled. On January 15, Trump said that the signing of the phase one trade agreement was intended to "fix past mistakes together."