President Trump said Tuesday that he called Chinese President Xi Jinping a "king" during a 2017 visit to China, and that the communist leader "liked that."

Trump shared the awkward story at a Republican dinner in Washington, as his administration seeks to secure a bilateral trade deal with China.

"I was in China making a speech," Trump recounted to dinner guests. "President Xi, who is a strong man, I call him 'king.' He said, 'But I am not king, I am president'. I said, 'No, you are president for life, and therefore you are king.' He said, 'Huh. Huh.' He liked that. I call him 'king.' I get along with him great."

Communist political parties oppose monarchy as a form of government, though some communist governments are led primarily by one family, and Xi has ended China's presidential term limits and wields extraordinary power.

In the wide-ranging speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee Annual Spring Dinner, Trump also said that Xi became "angrier and angrier" as Trump gave public remarks in Beijing.

Still recounting his 2017 visit, Trump said, "I was really hitting him hard about how they have hurt our country. And I had 5,000 Chinese people. I'm in China, I'm in Beijing doing this. And he's getting angrier and angrier, and then I saved it, I said, 'You know, I don't blame you, I blame the leaders of our country for allowing that to happen.'"