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US First Lady Jill Biden in Abu Dhabi on Last Solo Foreign Trip

First lady Jill Biden visits Kasr Al Hosn Fort, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
First lady Jill Biden visits Kasr Al Hosn Fort, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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US First Lady Jill Biden in Abu Dhabi on Last Solo Foreign Trip

First lady Jill Biden visits Kasr Al Hosn Fort, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
First lady Jill Biden visits Kasr Al Hosn Fort, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

US first lady Jill Biden toured the capital of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday as part of her final solo foreign tour.

Biden, 73, arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night after stopping in Italy and visiting her ancestral home of Gesso in Sicily.

On Thursday Biden traveled to the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and Qasr Al Hosn, a historic site. She was expected to speak at a summit later in the day, The AP reported.

Biden has come to the country previously. In March 2016, she accompanied her husband, then the vice president in the last year of the Obama administration, on a trip to the Emirates.

This trip comes after President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden over federal crimes after previously pledging that he wouldn't. The president dodged questions about the pardon while he was on a trip to Angola.

For her part, Jill Biden on Monday said: “Of course I support the pardon of my son.”

Biden will travel next to nearby Qatar. After that she'll fly to Paris and join President-elect Donald Trump and other dignitaries in Paris to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. She'll then return to Washington.

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China’s Foreign Ministry Says Xi and Trump Did Not Have a Call Recently 

President Donald Trump, left, poses for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (AP)
President Donald Trump, left, poses for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (AP)
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China’s Foreign Ministry Says Xi and Trump Did Not Have a Call Recently 

President Donald Trump, left, poses for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (AP)
President Donald Trump, left, poses for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (AP)

China's foreign ministry on Monday said President Xi Jinping had not spoken to Donald Trump recently, nor were their respective administrations trying to strike a tariff deal, contradicting the US president's claim in an interview with Time magazine.

"As far as I know, the two heads of state have not called each other recently," Guo Jiakun, a ministry spokesperson, said. "I would like to reiterate that China and the US have not conducted consultations or negotiations on the tariffs issue."

"If the US really wants to solve the problem through dialogue and negotiation, it should stop threatening and blackmailing (China)," Guo told a regular news conference.

Trump said in an interview published on Friday that his administration was talking with China to reach a tariff deal and that President Xi had called him. Beijing last week repeatedly denied such talks were taking place, accusing Washington of "misleading the public."

Speculation about trade negotiations between the world's largest economies swirled last week, after Trump asserted on Thursday that trade talks were underway.

The Trump administration would look at lowering tariffs on some imported Chinese goods, pending talks with Beijing, Reuters reported last week, while China urged the US to cancel all "unilateral" tariffs.

The two countries have each hiked levies on each other's goods to over 100% since Trump took office in January, rattling global markets and disrupting business operations on both sides.

China has exempted some US imports from its 125% tariffs and is asking firms to identify critical goods they need levy-free, according to businesses that have been notified, Reuters reported on Friday.

Chinese policymakers on Monday downplayed the impact of US tariffs on its growth in a bid to assuage concerns the broad US tariffs could derail efforts to shore up a fragile economic recovery.