"We can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses," President Donald Trump said in a series of tweets. | Getty Trump tweets: Meeting with Chinese leader will be 'very difficult'

President Donald Trump warned that next week's scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping would be challenging, with the two world leaders set to square off on issues ranging from trade to military expansion and North Korea.

"The meeting next week with China will be a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses," the president said in a series of tweets. "American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives."


Xi will reportedly spend two days next week, April 6 and 7, with President Donald Trump and officials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in their first in person talks since the president took office on Jan. 20. In a statement released earlier Thursday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump and Xi would “discuss global, regional, and bilateral issues of mutual concern." The visit will also include a dinner between the president, first lady Melania Trump, Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also expected to be in attendance, prioritizing the visit over a since-rescheduled meeting with NATO leaders.

Trump has been critical of China's handling of trade and foreign policy, railing against their military expansion into the South China sea and their handling of neighboring North Korea, both on the campaign trail and since taking office.

In a February interview with Reuters, Trump said he was "not liking" the interactions between China and North Korea During a campaign rally in May of last year, Trump said the U.S. could not allow China to continue to "rape" the country of its jobs, a stance he has since repeated repeatedly. In February during an interview with Reuters, Trump said he was "not liking" the interactions between China and North Korea.

Trump also alarmed the international community by engaging with the Taiwanese president in December as president-elect, breaking with decades of precedent and sparking fears that he'd skirt with the U.S.'s longstanding "one China" policy, which fails to recognize Taiwanese sovereign. Trump has since pledged to Xi in a February phone conversation to uphold the policy.

...and job losses. American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017