Trump did not provide any timing on when Alexander is expected to be released.
The White House said on Sunday that it reached a trade deal with China as the two countries negotiated for a second day in Switzerland. China has yet to comment on Sunday's talks.
"We’re confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to work toward resolving that national emergency,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters in Geneva. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said "substantial progress" had been made but stopped short of touting a full deal.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the United Kingdom -- the first in what the White House said it hopes will be a flurry of agreements while the reciprocal tariff pause is in effect. With UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on speaker phone in the Oval Office, the leaders conceded that they are still working out the details of the agreement.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that New York City Mayor Eric Adams requested a meeting with President Donald Trump,
"The president was willing to take it. If the president wishes to discuss his private meeting afterwards, I will let him do that himself," she said.
ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about Trump's post on Friday morning signaling an openness to lowering the China tariffs to 80%.
"The president still remains with his position that he is not going to unilaterally bring down tariffs on China. We need to see concessions from them as well. Again, that's part of the reason Secretary Bessent is going to talk to the Chinese counterparts this weekend to start those discussions in person," Leavitt said.
"As for the 80% number, that was a number the president threw out there and we'll see what happens this weekend, and always in the effort of transparency, I'm sure you'll hear directly from the treasury secretary or the president after those negotiations conclude," she said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Friday that he is set to meet with Trump in the afternoon to discuss infrastructure and other issues impacting the city.
"We are on a flight to D.C. to meet with the president and his administration to go over some important items that impact the city," Adams said in a social media video shot on a plane and posted on Friday morning. "We're looking forward to finding ways that we can collaborate together to address infrastructure and other funding items."
Their meeting comes after a federal judge earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges against Adams at the request Trump's Justice Department. Their discussion at the White House on Friday will be their first face-to-face meeting since then. Adams met with Trump in Florida when he was president-elect in January. He also attended Trump's inauguration.
-ABC New's Oren Oppenheim
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Friday morning expressed some optimism about upcoming with negotiations with China but remained tight-lipped about what to expect.
"Everything that's been going on with the meeting in Switzerland is very promising to us," Hassett said on CNBC. "We're seeing extreme respect, treated, treating both sides with respect for seeing collegiality and also sketches of positive developments. So I think that as we move forward and remove, hopefully, uncertainty on China and get deals like the UK, that people understand what President Trump's trade policy has been all about."
Hassett was also asked by reporters at the White House about Trump's social media post today suggesting an 80% tariff rate on China and whether that was an opening salvo for negotiations.
"It will come out tomorrow what happens," Hassett said repeatedly when asked about the president's post.
Hassett added that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are going into the talks this weekend with "open minds" and no news will come out until after the negotiations.
-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart
